Punit Soni returned to India in 2015 as the Chief Product officer of Flipkart after spending more than 15 years in the US. He had moved for his MBA in 2005 and worked with Google and Motorola in San Francisco before eventually taking up a new role in Bengaluru. The transition however proved difficult with Soni discovering stark differences in the work culture after returning to India.
“The work intensity in India presented a stark contrast to Silicon Valley’s professional environment. During my time working in Bengaluru between 2015 and 2016, I discovered that work-life balance was essentially nonexistent in the Indian tech ecosystem,” he told Business Insider.
He noted that the cultural approach in India seemed to “normalize continuous work to the point of potential burnout”. Employees persevered through exhausting conditions in a bid to ensure professional advancement — navigating a complicated office dynamic and intense competition.
Soni also told the publication that he had faced difficulties adjusting to the Indian environment after realising that things had changed drastically while he was away.
“I knew the language and culture, but it still felt unfamiliar. Because of that, it took me a while settle in…I spoke Hindi with an Indian-American accent and my professional and social mannerisms felt foreign,” he explained.
The former Flipkart CPO remained in Bengaluru for around two years before moving back to the US with his family and launching his own company. He now leads Suki — a software development company based out of California — which provides “AI-powered voice solutions for healthcare”.
