American businessman claims India has 'no major accomplishments'. Indian entrepreneur schools him

Many users rallied behind Dilip Kumar while voicing anger at Charles Haywood.

An online dispute erupted after an American businessman dismissed India’s record of modern-day achievements, prompting a strong rebuttal from Indian venture capitalist Dilip Kumar.

Charles Haywood, an American businessman and blogger, questioned on X whether India had produced any major accomplishment in recent history. He wrote, “Has a single (subcontinent) Indian ever accomplished anything of truly major note in the modern period, in any field? I can’t think of one. Nor can Grok. Seems odd, given there are 1.5 billion of them, and we’re told we need to accept endless waves of them for their ‘talent’.”

Kumar responded by listingwhat he described as landmark contributions. Referencing India’s space programme, he wrote, “ISRO’s Chandrayaan 3 landed on the Moon’s south pole in 2023 and India is the first nation ever to do so. NASA hasn’t.”

He also highlighted India’s fintech innovation, adding, “UPI processes 10B+ transactions monthly in India. The US is still figuring out realtime payments.”

Kumar pointed to international recognition as well, noting Nobel Prizes awarded to Indian figures in recent decades. “Btw, in the modern period you asked? Four Indians got Nobel Prize. Amartya Sen (1998, Economics). Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (2009, Chemistry). Kailash Satyarthi (2014, Peace), Abhijit Banerjee (2019, Economics),” he stated. Concluding his post, he remarked, “When you can’t see obvious contributions, it says less about Indians and more about your filters.”

Haywood, who runs the far-right blog The Worthy House, describes his work on his official site as writings linked “in some way to reality-based human flourishing in the post-liberal future.”

The exchange sparked significant reaction online. Many users rallied behind Kumar while voicing anger at Haywood. One comment read, “The more the hate, the better the payout. Honestly, we shouldn’t even bother.”

Another argued, “You should never counter these morons. The total sum of contributions by Indians far exceeds any known human population. Let’s just keep our heads down and build a great future for our kids.” A third questioned, “Why do you think he deserves your response? Is he someone worth responding to?”

Dilip Kumar, who studied engineering at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, began his career as an engagement manager and went on to hold multiple leadership roles, including founding startups of his own. He is currently part of Zerodha-backed Rainmatter, a venture fund that supports Indian entrepreneurs developing healthcare-focused products.