Indian American entrepreneur Hari Raghavan has created a controversy by stating that Indian employees are unreliable and need constant supervision. In defending AI startup Optifye, which had come under fire for its worker tracking technology, Raghavan argued that such surveillance tools are necessary for India’s workforce. Optifye was founded by Indian origin entrepreneurs Vivaan Baid and Kushal Mohta and it uses AI computer vision to monitor factory workers’ productivity. Despite the fact that the startup was roundly criticized in the United States for enabling exploitative labor practices, Raghavan argued that the workforce in India needs to be monitored more closely due to inefficiency and lack of discipline. Taking to social media, Raghavan wrote, “I grew up in India, and I don’t think y’all understand how unreliable the work ethic of the average Indian employee is.” He accused Indian businesses of being very inefficient and unproductive, and said that while a US firm would do the work in three days, it would take two months in India. Raghavan also said that Indian employees are 10 times less productive than their American counterparts and that they need constant supervision to meet productivity standards. Frustrated, he added, “I may never go back to India again” after having “a million small unprofessional and incompetent interactions” during his last visit. In a nutshell, Raghavan claimed that India’s economic growth is being slowed down by poor work ethic, that employee monitoring is not the same as exploitation and that a performance oriented culture is crucial for modernization. His comments have generated a lot of discussion, and many people have criticized his generalization of Indian employees.
Stanford-Educated CEO: "I Might Never Go to India Again"
