Chennai man not allowed to pitch on Shark Tank India as he’s not fluent in Hindi

Karthik Manikonda is the founder of The Mind and Company (Image credit: LinkedIn)

A Chennai man has voiced his disappointment at not being allowed to pitch on Shark Tank India because he is not fluent in Hindi. Karthik Manikonda, a Chennai-based entrepreneur, says he was selected for the pan-India TV show but not allowed to pitch in front of the Sharks.

Manikonda is the founder of The Mind and Company, a mental health startup that provides counselling and therapy services. In a LinkedIn post shared on March 7, he revealed Shark Tank India only allows participants who are fluent in Hindi.

His proposal that he be allowed to pitch in English was denied by the showmakers.

“I am not fluent in Hindi. It’s a Hindi show,” the Chennai man wrote in his LinkedIn post, adding that regional startups lose out because of this rule. Manikonda said he did not blame Shark Tank India since the show has a format which it must follow and protect.

However, he called for a solution to the problem, saying regional startups should not lose out because of language barriers. The founder suggested real-time translation by AI as one possible solution.

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

The post has received hundreds of comments of support as many people called on Shark Tank India, a national show, to do away with the Hindi-only rule. However, several commenters asked Manikonda to learn Hindi. Others asked why he could not have taken a translator along.

“I get your point, i should have taken someone along who knows Hindi, Would have done that if the show was called Shark tank Hindi,” he responded to one such comment.

Shark Tank India is currently on its third season. The panel of investors this season includes Anupam Mittal, Peyush Bansal, Namita Thapar and several others.