"Leave India": Entrepreneur Criticises Innovation Barriers, Popcorn Taxes

An Indian entrepreneur and startup founder has advised “high-salaried individuals” to “leave India”, claiming the country stifles innovation. The person, who has a degree from a premier Indian engineering institute and pursued further studies in the US, detailed his experiences after returning to India in 2018 to launch his own company.

Now running a “well-funded business” that employs 30 people with an average salary of Rs 15 lakh, the entrepreneur shared on Reddit, “Leave India! It's high time! And I'm saying this as someone who runs a successful business!”

In the lengthy post, the entrepreneur claimed he faced “regional hate” almost weekly, citing instances involving vegetable vendors, cab drivers, and restaurant staff. He also criticised what he described as India's “low work ethics,” lamenting that appearance plays a significant role in how people are treated. “If you don't look rich or wear branded clothes, you're treated like filth,” he wrote in his post.

The entrepreneur criticised India's bureaucratic hurdles, alleging that innovation was often killed by “stupid” regulations. He recounted a specific incident where his app faced a fraudulent case. Despite helping the police resolve the issue and ensuring the victim's money was returned, the FIR against his company remained open, with police allegedly demanding bribes to close it.

“You have to be a bureaucrat, politician, or celeb to get things done easily,” he remarked.

High taxes without corresponding government services were another major grievance. He recounted an incident in Goa where he urged a group of people to use a bin instead of littering, only to be told to "mind [his] own business". "Civic sense has gone extinct in the country," he said, adding that such encounters were routine.

The entrepreneur also painted a grim picture of India's economy, warning of a "terrible economic collapse" and highlighting the depreciating rupee. He suggested innovators consider relocating to countries such as the UAE or Thailand, where he believed the environment was more conducive to building something groundbreaking.

"In a nutshell… leave the country where they'll even tax your popcorn because they're out of ideas to make it a $5 trillion economy," he concluded, referring to the new GST rules that impose up to 18 per cent tax on popcorn.

The post was later removed by Reddit.