Zerodha's Nikhil Kamath: Moonlighting isn't wrong but we need more transparency

Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath called for increased transparency where employees report the different roles and jobs that they might be doing. (Image credit: @nikhilkamathcio/Instagram)

Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath has spoken out in favour of moonlighting calling the practice "not wrong" but also asserting the need for better transparency between employees and employers.

Speaking to News 18, Kamath said that moonlighting may be unavoidable in the future with people taking up multiple jobs at the same time. "I believe that broadly we are moving towards a gig economy where many people might do many jobs at the same point of time. The problem could be with misrepresenting what one is doing," he said.

"I don't think moonlighting is wrong per se, but if you were to represent your employer that you're working full time and not doing anything else, but working on the side, it's a problem. What we need probably is increased transparency where people report the different roles and jobs that they might be doing -- under those circumstances I don't think moonlighting is too big of a problem," Nikhil Kamath said.

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Earlier this month, the Centre had taken a stand on moonlighting stating that an employee cannot work against the interest of the industrial establishment where he is employed and thus cannot take up additional employment which will impact his employer.

Addressing queries around moonlighting and recent layoffs during a Lok Sabha session, Minister of State for Labour and Employment Rameswar Teli said, “As per the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act 1946, a workman shall not at any time work against the interest of the industrial in which he is employed and shall not take any employment in addition to his job in the establishment, which may adversely affect the interest of his employer."

Moonlighting has been a cause of concern for the Indian IT sector over the past few months as companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, and Wipro objected to moonlighting. Wipro’s chairman Rishad Premji had said the company had in fact fired over 300 employees found moonlighting while Infosys drafted guidelines around it without mentioning the term moonlighting.

Read more: Whom does moonlighting hurt, how and what to do about it?