Shark Tank India not qualified to give business advice on the show?
Shark Tank India, the Indian version of the popular American reality television series, has landed in hot water recently. A LinkedIn user named Ankit Uttam wrote a viral post on the platform, in which he compared the Indian version of the show to its American counterpart, and claimed that the “sharks” of Shark Tank India Season 2 were not credible enough to give business advice to the contestants who come on the show.
The user explained that he decided to look into the financial statuses of the Indian sharks because the Indian version of the show has “never worked for me as a show from its first season, unlike its US counterpart.” He went on to say that in the US version of the show, “every judge (Barbara Corcoran, Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John, and Kevin O’Leary) is running businesses that actually turn a profit instead of riding on VC money or drowning in huge losses.”
The user then provided specific examples of the financial struggles of some of the Indian sharks. For example, he stated that Vineeta Singh’s SUGAR Cosmetics reported a loss of INR 75 Cr in FY22, up from INR 21.1 Cr in the fiscal year FY21. He also mentioned that Ghazal Alagh’s Mamaearth for the first time since inception posted a profit for FY22 at INR 14.44 Cr after suffering losses of Rs.1,332 crore in FY21 and ₹428 crore in FY20, but the company has reported a 4 crore net profit approx. for the first half of FY23. He also mentioned that Ashneer Grover, who was seen in Shark Tank India season 1, BharatPe’s total loss stood at ₹5,594 crores in FY 2022 and in FY 2021, the company recorded a total loss of ₹2,961 crore.
The user also criticized other sharks, such as Anupam Mittal, Namita Thapar and Amit Jain, stating that their companies were either dead or not making enough money, and that Namita Thapar was only part of her company due to her father who was the CEO.
He concluded that only Aman Gupta’s BoAt was the sole profitable company and said “To me, the Shark Tank India version seems like Ekta Kapoor’s rendition of the more interesting US version of the show.”
This post has sparked a lot of discussion on social media, with many people questioning the credibility of the sharks on the Indian version of the show. It is important to note that the financial status of a business does not necessarily reflect the ability of an entrepreneur to give good advice or judge the potential of a business idea. However, it is clear that the sharks on Shark Tank India should be held to the same standards of success and credibility as the sharks on the American version of the show.
Check Ankit Uttam’s LinkedIn post: lnkd.in/dnJdkvVi
