‘Disasters Bound to Happen, Only Solution is to…’: Nithin Kamath Moots for Working from Smaller Cities

The only solution to the issues pertaining to working at big cities is to have many smaller cities with their own economies, Zerodha founder and CEO Nithin Kamath said on Friday. His comments come amid an ongoing conversation triggered by the floods in Bengaluru that laid bare the city’s infrastructure woes as big IT companies sought to shift their offices to other places.

“Most large Indian cities weren’t built in a way to handle as many people living in them today. Disasters are bound to continue. The only real solution is to have many smaller cities with their own economies,” said Kamath in a Twitter post on the day. He added that over 50 per cent of Zeridha’s workforce are living in smaller cities.

Most large Indian cities weren’t built in a way to handle as many people living in them today. Disasters are bound to continue. The only real solution is to have many smaller cities with their own economies.

Over 50% of our team now live there; a silver lining from Covid. 1/5

— Nithin Kamath (@Nithin0dha) September 9, 2022

Moving to another big city is only a temporary fix and companies should nudge its teams to work from smaller towns, he opined. “If companies can afford to have teams work remotely or through small satellite offices, I think they should nudge teams to work out of small towns and cities. This way, the company can play a part in problem-solving. Moving to another large city will only be a temporary fix.”

“The quality of life can go up significantly, with more bang for the buck, more savings, lesser time in traffic, better work-life balance, and more,” he added.

He said that this was not a hypothesis, but solid data collected from Zerodha’s team members who work out of smaller cities. “This isn’t just a hypothesis anymore; we now have enough data from our team, many of whom have moved to Mysuru and Belgavi,” said Kamath.

The quality of life can go up significantly, with more bang for the buck, more savings, lesser time in traffic, better work-life balance, & more.
This isn’t just a hypothesis anymore; we now have enough data from our team, many of whom have moved to Mysuru & Belgavi. 3/5

— Nithin Kamath (@Nithin0dha) September 9, 2022

The best part of moving and working out of small town is that it can also help dealing with climate change issues can result in creation of livelihood. “Otherwise, money keeps circulating in the large cities, enticing everyone to migrate,” he said.

The best part is if these people consume locally, it can also help in terms of climate change issues & creation of livelihood, probably the two biggest problems we are facing as a nation. Otherwise, money keeps circulating in the large cities, enticing everyone to migrate. 4/5

— Nithin Kamath (@Nithin0dha) September 9, 2022

Kamath’s comments come in line with those of Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu who said that developing a lot of smaller towns is a lot cheaper and allows citizens to enjoy higher real incomes and lower taxes compared to mega cities like Bengaluru.

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