kill switch how the tech boom is killing India’s best coders
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Mar 18, 2026 Parth MN, independent journalist who reported ‘Death of an Indian tech worker,’ brings on-the-ground reporting about India’s tech workforce and suicides. He describes intense work pressure and burnout. He traces 24/7 schedules driven by outsourcing and global time zones. He examines legal gaps, muted accountability, and the human cost for families.
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Nikhil’s Rise And Tragic Death
- Nikhil Samwanshi rose from a small farming village to a coveted AI job, becoming a local symbol of pride.
- Less than a year into his role at Ola Krutrim he sent a message telling his roommate to tell his family it was an accident and was later found dead in a Bangalore lake.
Hidden Scale Of Tech Worker Suicides
- There have been at least 227 reported tech worker suicides in the past eight to nine years, indicating a growing crisis.
- India doesn't track IT worker suicides specifically, and media reports often omit employer names, obscuring patterns and accountability.
Execs Normalize Brutal Workweeks
- Several prominent Indian tech leaders publicly endorse extreme hours, with expectations of 70–90 hour workweeks becoming normalized.
- Bhavish Agarwal of OLA called work-life balance a 'Western import' and argued one generation must do 'penance' to build the nation.