Shark Tank India judges face flak for rejecting pitch of fellow Shark's competitor

Screengrab of Recode presenting their pitch on Shark Tank India.

Shark Tank India returned to the screens with its second season on January 2 and after the first episode, the "Sharks" -- as the judges on the business reality show are called -- have been facing criticism after they rejected the pitch of two entrepreneurs because they represented a company that could rival one of their own businesses.

Shark Vineeta Singh is the CEO of Sugar cosmetics and the two entrepreneurs whose pitch was rejected represented another cosmetics brand called Recode. Except Lenskart CEO Peyush Bansal, all the other judges refused to invest in the company because they did not want to support "friend's rival business". The move left a number of fans of the show disappointed, with several calling it unethical and unfair of the judges. Many also questioned the way Recode presenters were treated on Shark Tank India.

On #SharkTankIndia, VineetaSingh rejected the pitch of a cosmetic brand coz she too owns a cosmetic brand. AmanGupta & NamitaThapar rejected it coz they don’t invest in ‘friends’ rival businesses’. That’s UNFAIR! The show should have venture capitalists instead of CEOs as judges.

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— Irena Akbar (@irenaakbar) January 2, 2023

So , they didn't invest in #Recode just because they don't want to hamper their friendship. The motto of this show is to encourage entrepreneur, not to discourage.#SharkTankIndiaS2 #entrepreneurlife

— Ankit Kumar Nag (@iamankitnag) January 2, 2023

@SonyTV After Watching #SharkTankIndiaS2 Feeling very sad for #Recode These guys had very good Sale's but they didn't get any offer for Sharks. Wtf isko nahi mila matlab kisko milega. After watching this feels program is biased They are not Sharks like USA They are family 1/1 pic.twitter.com/DxkYiVoYi3

— Sudhanshu Snehal

"Being a shark doesn’t mean we are not entitled to our independent values and speaking candidly so if I don’t invest in a fellow sharks competition, that’s me, no regrets," she tweeted.

Being a shark doesn’t mean we are not entitled to our independent values & speaking candidly so if I don’t invest in a fellow sharks competition, that’s me, no regrets & if I call out toxicity & don’t join the ignorant that celebrate people w lack of integrity.. that’s me :)

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— Namita (@namitathapar) January 3, 2023

Other Sharks -- Lenskart founder Peyush Bansal, bOAT founder Aman Gupta, SUGAR Cosmetics founder Vineeta Singh, People Group and Shaadi.com founder Anupam Mittal, and CarDekho co-founder Amit Jain -- are yet to comment on the criticism.

Read more: Shark Tank India's Namita Thapar speaks up against toxicity: 'Being a Shark doesn't mean...'