Bengaluru-Based CEO Says India Has "Talent Problem", Sparks Online Debate

Umesh Kumar, a Bengaluru-based CEO, sparked online debate after he said that India has a "big fu**ing talent problem" and there is artificial intelligence-generated crap everywhere. Mr Kumar expressed his anger as he struggled to find qualified candidates for a backend engineering role, for which he received around 1,000 applications in 2-3 days, and didn't find any decent resumes.

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India seriously has a big f***ing talent problem. We got around 1000 applications for a backend engineering role in just the last 2-3 days, and guess how many were actually decent? < 5.

We asked for a basic, simple coding task. The submissions? Mostly absolute trash.…

— Umesh Kumar (@itsumeshk) June 30, 2025

"India seriously has a big fu**ing talent problem," Mr Kumar, who is co-founder of Runable, a platform where anyone can build AI agents, said in a post on X.

"We got around 1,000 applications for a backend engineering role in just the last two to three days, and guess how many were actually decent? [Less than five]."

Mr Kumar said that most of the submissions for a basic and simple coding task were "absolute trash". "AI-generated crap everywhere. But that's ok. Code that doesn't even run. F**k Running Code, libraries needed for the code to work are even missing," he pinpointed.

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The Indian tech job market is booming, with a 22% growth forecast and over 2 million cloud professionals needed by FY25, a report said. Despite the high demand, there's a shortage of skilled candidates, particularly those with practical skills in emerging technologies.

Mr Kumar also weighed in on the hiring process, he said, "We pay a damn good Rs50 Lakh base salary plus relocation, food, and the chance to work with some of the best talent out there. So yes, at this pay scale, expecting code that actually runs is justified."

Such issues have forced companies to become more selective and focus on practical skills over formal education. "I am confused, Am I the only one facing all this or this is becoming the new normal in hiring nowadays?" Kumar said.

His post grabbed massive traction, with one user saying, "I totally get you, Umesh. I've manually reviewed 300 resumes in the last 2 months, 15 were decent, 2 got the offer."

"Its gonna get a lot harder to find great talent with students using AI in college," another said.

A third suggested, "There are good talent out there. When you post a role, LinkedIn without a proper corporate Recruiter account is already limiting who can view, hence what you need is Discovery of Talent who haven't seen it (Recruiters reaching out). Second, think of the role to be remote with travel as needed. Your budget is not a constraint here at all."