“I feel like corruption is not bad,” Nikhil Kamath says on his podcast. Netizens call it a privileged statement

Nikhil Kamath recently sat down with Ruchir Sharma for his WTF podcast. Ruchir Sharma is an Indian-American author, fund manager, and columnist for the Financial Times. The two discussed the trajectory of India and China and who will win the coming decade.

The Indo-China debate 

The podcast focused on how both countries are in a head-on competition for the next superpower in the world.

While talking about the systems in India, the conversation turned towards giving more power to states and their leaders. 

Ruchir Sharma compared the popularity of a Mayor (highlighting the power of state leaders) in cities like New York against that of Indian states. 

To which Nikhil Kamath immediately said: "I don't know the Mayor of Bangalore."

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Power with states 

Ruchir Sharma went on to explain how distributing power to state leaders enables the democratisation of wealth, and the decision-making is spread much more widely. 

Against this statement, Nikhil Kamath posed a question: "Do you believe corruption is a bad thing?"

Ruchir Sharma replied that it is a cliché and that corruption is faced by almost every country. 

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Nikhil’s take on corruption 

Nikhil Kamath gave his take on corruption and stated, "I feel like corruption is not bad. I mean, man at the end of the day will be selfish. We are not born altruistic. Everybody will want to hold the commodity of the time that we live in and in capitalism, it's money or property or gold or whatever. I feel like corruption is a bigger detriment to society when the money is taken out of circulation or it delays processes. As long as the process is getting expedited by virtue of corruption and money is not getting hoarded. I feel like the bigger problem is when corruption leads to delays."

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Netizens react 

This statement has mostly received a negative backlash against the Zerodha boss, Nikhil Kamath. Netizens across social media platforms are standing against this take. 

One user on Instagram wrote: “As a rich person, you can afford to expedite things. That is where you’re getting an advantage. Systems should serve and work for everyone justly, without how much money they make. That is what determines dignity and social equality. What is this privileged vile take!” 

Another penned a detailed post on LinkedIn and mentioned: “Condoning or "accepting" corruption like this is a very bad idea, especially in the context of India, where everyone knows what a widespread disease it is.”

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