‘Leave India, it’s high time’ wrote a startup founder in a long post on Reddit. The post which is now deleted asked “high salaried individuals” to leave India and move abroad claiming that India is amazing but not the best for innovation. The post has now been deleted. “Sorry, this post has been removed by the moderators of r/india,” reads the message if one clicks on the post. It is not clear why the post was deleted. There are 300-plus replies on the post that are still visible.
The entrepreneur goes with the name ‘u/anonymous_batm_an’ on Reddit.
What the now deleted ‘Leave India’ post said
Before the user deleted the post, it had already gone viral. The user on the r/India subreddit, who claims to have studied at a top Indian engineering institute and earned a postgraduate degree in the US, shared his experience of returning to India in 2018 to launch a company. Having secured significant funding, he now employs nearly 30 people with an average salary of ₹15 lakh.
Despite this success, his post, titled “Leave India! It’s high time! And I am telling this as someone who runs a well funded business!”, strongly advocated for emigration, particularly for innovators. He argued that “stupid” regulations stifle innovation in India, requiring connections to bureaucrats, politicians, or celebrities to achieve anything. He cited an example where his company, despite assisting police in solving a fraud case on their app and helping the victim recover their money, was still accused and faced demands for bribes to close the case.
The entrepreneur also described experiencing frequent “regional hate” from various service providers. He criticized what he perceived as low work ethics among Indians and claimed that social status is heavily tied to wealth and appearance. He further complained about high taxes coupled with poor public services like roads and hospitals. He recounted an incident in Goa where confronting litterers resulted in them telling him to mind his own business.
Alternative countries he suggested
He warned of an impending “terrible economic collapse” and rupee depreciation, recommending the UAE or Thailand as alternative destinations for innovators. He sarcastically commented on excessive taxation, even on items like popcorn, as a desperate measure to achieve a 5 trillion dollar economy. “In a nutshell…leave the country where they will even tax your popcorn because they are out of ideas to make it a 5 trillion dollar economy!” he said.
The post garnered numerous comments, with some users agreeing with his points. One user, living in Australia, echoed the sentiment of high taxes and poor returns in India, citing issues like bad roads, healthcare, infrastructure, corruption, pollution, and outdated policies. Another user humorously expressed their readiness to leave India alongside the entrepreneur should he decide to close his business.
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