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

Shark Tank India judge Namita Thapar, 45, executive director of Emcure Pharmaceuticals.

Shark Tank India judge Namita Thapar has spoken out against toxicity surrounding the business reality show after the first episode of the second season was aired recently.

Taking to Twitter, the Emcure Pharmaceuticals executive director wrote: "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."

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

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

Namita Thapar may have been referring to the recent criticism the Shark Tank India judges have been facing after they rejected the pitch of two entrepreneurs because they were representing a make-up brand Recode. Except Lenskart CEO Peyush Bansal, all the other sharks rejected the idea and one of the reasons being that one of the Sharks, Vineeta Singh, herself heads a cosmetics brand Sugar. On the show, the judges stated that they did not want to invest in "friend's rival businesses."

The move did not sit well with netizens who called out the Shark Tank India judges for being "unfair".

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.

— Irena Akbar (@irenaakbar) January 2, 2023

Following the criticism, Namita Thapar said, "If I call out toxicity and don’t join the ignorant that celebrate people with lack of integrity, that’s me."

She then shared a quote from Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw.

So relevant & true… pic.twitter.com/2CSgT0h5o6

— Namita (@namitathapar) January 4, 2023

Shark Tank India returned to screens with its second season on January 2.

Read more: Namita Thapar on Shark Tank India dropping Ashneer Grover: 'One man doesn't make...'