Shark Tank India: Not allowed to pitch because of lack of Hindi fluency, Chennai entrepreneur claims

Shark Tank India Season 3: A Chennai man claimed that he was not allowed to pitch on Shark Tank India because he is not fluent in Hindi.

Chennai-based entrepreneur Karthik Manikonda said that he was selected for the show but not allowed to pitch in front of the Sharks (judges) on the show.

Karthik Manikonda is the founder of The Mind and Company, a mental health startup. In a LinkedIn post, he claimed that Shark Tank India only allows participants who are fluent in Hindi and his proposal was denied by the showmakers as he wanted to pitch in English.

He wrote, “The Mind and Company was selected for Shark Tank India, but was not allowed to pitch to the Sharks. Reason: I am not fluent in Hindi Its a Hindi show. Its a national show. I proposed to allow me to pitch in English. And I hear a Big NO. Had they told me other reasons like – Your scale is not big or- This industry is too niche or- You are not investment ready etc I would have accepted.

“But I cant pitch in non Hindi language was a bummer. I don’t blame Shark Tank. They have a format. They have to protect that. But regional startups shouldn’t lose out due to the language barriers,” he added.

Calling for a solution to the problem, he said that regional startups should not lose out because of language barriers. He also suggested that real-time translation by AI can be a possible solution.

“Disappointed, but not out,” he concluded his post by asserting.

Shark Tank India is currently in its third season in which panel of investors includes Anupam Mittal, Peyush Bansal, Namita Thapar, among others.