NRI reveals 6 workplace challenges she faced while working with Indian companies

An NRI outlined the workplace issues she encountered while working with Indian companies in an Instagram video. Her remarks drew mixed reactions online, with some professionals agreeing and others saying the critique was too broad.NRI reveals 6 workplace challenges she faced while working with Indian companies (Photos: @nupur.nri/Instagram)An NRI consultant shared the workplace challenges she faced after working with Indian companies, sparking a debate about professional culture in India.Nupur Dave, an NRI consultant, shared the video on her Instagram account where she spoke about the “top problems” she believed NRIs might face while navigating Indian work culture.In the video, Dave said one of the first things she noticed was that meetings could be cancelled or rescheduled at the last minute, especially if the person involved was not in a position of authority.“Yesterday, three of my four partnership calls got rescheduled a few minutes before,” she said. She also spoke about long waiting times for meetings, claiming that people were often expected to wait anywhere from a few minutes to an hour because meetings frequently ran over schedule.Another issue she highlighted was what she described as a culture of “sucking up,” where leaders sometimes preferred hiring or working with people who agreed with them rather than challenged their ideas. Dave clarified that she was not defending the behaviour, but suggested it could stem from the many operational challenges businesses face in India. Dave went on to say that time management in India felt different from what she had experienced abroad. According to her, work often stretched beyond office hours, while long lunch breaks and tea breaks were culturally normal.“Time moves differently in India,” she remarked.She also pointed out a lack of structured note-taking during meetings, particularly in creative discussions, where changes were sometimes implemented without being documented properly.Finally, Dave said that feedback was not always received positively in Indian workplaces, claiming that people could become defensive rather than accepting criticism constructively.Watch the video here:The video prompted a mixed response online, with many users saying they related to Dave’s observations.Some commenters who had worked abroad before returning to India said they found her points accurate, particularly regarding meeting punctuality and work-life boundaries.Others argued that the issue was not limited to NRIs, noting that Indian professionals themselves often faced similar challenges within local workplaces.Several users agreed with her criticism of extended tea breaks and after-hours work calls, saying that poor time management during the day often resulted in employees being contacted late in the evening.At the same time, some viewers felt her observations were too broad and did not represent every Indian workplace, pointing out that many companies in India maintained highly professional and efficient work cultures.- EndsPublished By: Yashna TalwarPublished On: Jul 17, 2026 18:09 IST