‘Moving to Pune’: Bengaluru entrepreneur Kaushik Mukherjee blames ‘language nonsense’ for office shift after SBI Kannada row

A Bengaluru tech entrepreneur has announced plans to relocate his company’s office to Pune within six months, citing employee concerns about recent language-related incidents in Karnataka. The move follows public debate after a viral video showed a bank manager refusing to speak Kannada in Bengaluru.

Bengaluru tech founder cites employee concerns

Kaushik Mukherjee, co-founder of a tech firm, posted on X that he had decided to move the office following discussions with his team. "Today I took a decision to wind up our Bangalore office in the next 6 months and move it to Pune. If this language nonsense is to continue, I do not want my non Kannada speaking staff to be the next 'victim'. This idea was mooted by the staff themselves. I agreed to their POV," he wrote.

Mukherjee’s post was a direct response to a viral video of a State Bank of India (SBI) manager in Chandapura, Bengaluru, who refused to speak Kannada to a customer. In the video, the manager says, "This is India, I’ll speak Hindi, not Kannada." The incident sparked criticism across the state.

Political leaders react to SBI incident

Bengaluru South Member of Parliament Tejasvi Surya shared the video on X, writing, "If you are doing customer interface work in Karnataka, especially in a sector like banking, it is important to communicate to customers in the language they know." He also said that he has consistently demanded that public-facing roles in Karnataka be staffed with Kannada-speaking employees.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah condemned the incident. He called the manager’s conduct "strongly condemnable" and urged the Union Finance Ministry to introduce cultural and language sensitivity training for bank staff across the country.

SBI responds to backlash

Following the backlash, the bank transferred the manager to another branch. Both the bank and the manager issued apologies. The manager also released a statement in Kannada, promising to be more sensitive to customers in the future.

Language debate in public services

The Kannada Development Authority (KDA) has expressed concern over the growing number of non-Kannadigas posted in customer-facing roles in banks. According to the KDA, this trend is leading to a disconnect between local citizens and essential services.

Under Reserve Bank of India guidelines, banks must offer services in English, Hindi, and the regional language. Despite this, incidents like the one in Bengaluru have reignited debates over language use in public-facing institutions in Karnataka.