
Indian student from tier-3 college rejects US company offer over one condition: ‘It bothered me'
A student from a 'tier 3' college in India has revealed that he turned down an offer from a US-based company due to one demand they had. In a post shared on Reddit, the student revealed that his would-be employers expected him to keep his camera on during work hours - a thing he refused to do. An Indian student explains why he turned down an offer from a US company.
However, after turning down the offer, the student began to have second thoughts and turned to Reddit for advice.
'Recently received an offer from a US based company (most of them are Indian and settled in the US). They were offering me a full stack developer intern role and after that a full-time role,' the student wrote.
He said that the company offered him a stipend of INR 25,000 to start with, but later agreed to increase that to ₹ 35,000 to 40,000 per month. They also promised a conversion to a full-time role at a salary of more than ₹ 12 lakh per annum after the completion of the internship.
The company also stipulated that he would have to work during US office hours. The student agreed readily to this demand. However, the company's next demand left him nonplussed and eventually led to him rejecting the offer. Company's condition for intern
The company further stipulated that the intern must keep his camera on at all times while working.
'The next thing they said was you have to stay in the meeting during working hours and your camera should be on. This is something which bothered me. I tried to convince them on the meeting part but they didn't agree,' the student explained.
Unhappy with this demand, the student finally said no to the offer.
However, he later began to question his own decision when seniors and friends told him he was unlikely to land such a good offer again.
'But after asking everyone, now some friends and seniors are saying I should accept the offer as I come from tier 3 college and getting such kind of offers is difficult for me. Did I make the right choice? Or I am gonna regret this?' he asked Reddit. Reddit replies
The query left Reddit users divided, with some saying he made the right choice and others advising him to take up the offer.
'I think you've done the right thing. This camera on part is really weird,' wrote one Reddit user.
'It's a choice. Some Indian companies have started doing this weirdly which is just a power trip for the idiot manager. If you have options, don't join them. If not, join them, make your money and leave them as soon as you can. They are not for long term employment,' another advised.
'Camera on at all times means you will work as a slave. I think their productivity metric measurement is off,' a third Reddit user added.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Indian Express
13 minutes ago
- Indian Express
India's trade strategy with China will have to rely on a ‘managed rivalry'
Written by Soumya Bhowmick India's trade relationship with China sits at the intersection of economic necessity and national security anxiety. While bilateral commerce continues to thrive in volume, it remains fundamentally distorted by strategic asymmetries. India's widening trade deficit, its reliance on Chinese technology inputs, and Beijing's growing support for Islamabad have sharpened the dilemma facing Indian policymakers: How to engage economically without compromising sovereignty and security. In response, New Delhi is reimagining its economic diplomacy through a 'China-plus-one' playbook — anchored in diversification, industrial policy, and regional recalibration. Bilateral trade remains substantial between the two countries, but it is significantly imbalanced. In FY2024–25, India's two-way merchandise trade with China reached approximately US$127.7 billion, making China India's second-largest trading partner after the US. However, this came at the cost of a record trade deficit of US$99.2 billion — the highest on record — highlighting deep structural dependencies in India's economy, particularly in the technology and pharmaceutical sectors. In light of these dynamics, Indian policymakers have adopted a cautious approach. Under a policy introduced in 2020, all foreign direct investment (FDI) from China and other countries sharing land borders with India must obtain prior government approval. In April 2025, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal reiterated that India 'does not intend to encourage' Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from China. By the end of 2024, Chinese firms accounted for only about 0.37 per cent of India's total FDI inflows. While easing these restrictions in non-sensitive sectors such as solar energy and batteries may be helpful, the prevailing geopolitical climate has stalled such proposals. Instead, India has intensified scrutiny of Chinese technology and infrastructure investments, banned dozens of Chinese apps, and maintained strict regulatory oversight over the telecom and electronics sectors. China's overt support for Pakistan has further deepened Indian scepticism. Beijing's financing and arming of a country India considers a direct security threat has amplified concerns about the strategic costs of deeper economic ties. In response, India has adopted diversification strategies, including strengthening economic partnerships with the United States, Japan, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as promoting domestic manufacturing under the 'Make in India' initiative. These measures aim to reduce dependency on any single partner while retaining space for selective engagement with China. This hedging strategy reflects a broader shift in India's foreign economic policy — from passive openness to strategic selectivity. India's answer to the widening trade gap with China is a two-pronged strategy: Build deeper commercial coalitions with trusted partners and turbo-charge domestic manufacturing so that tomorrow's supply chains run through, not around, India. The result is a deliberate 'China-plus-one' realignment that now threads through New Delhi's engagements with Washington, Tokyo, and ASEAN while anchoring at home under the Make in India and Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) drives. This strategy is not just about trade — it is about securing India's place in a reconfigured global production map. Such shifts reflect the growing convergence of commercial logic with strategic alignment. Washington has become India's largest goods-trade partner for the fourth consecutive year, with bilateral merchandise commerce reaching US$131.8 billion in FY 2024-25 — up from barely US$88 billion in 2019 — and resulting in India having a healthy surplus of more than US$41 billion. The new backbone of that relationship is the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET), which has already green-lighted joint semiconductor, AI, and space projects and prodded both governments to prune export-control frictions. Tokyo complements this pivot by underwriting supply-chain security and industrial upgrading. More than four-fifths of Japanese firms operating in India intend to expand over the next two years, according to JETRO's latest global survey, by far the highest figure among major host economies. At the policy level, the Supply-Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI), in collaboration with Japan and Australia, has targeted investment in electronics, batteries, and rare-earth processing hubs in India, specifically designed to mitigate single-country dependency. Japan's role is pivotal, not just as an investor, but also as a norm-setter for resilient and transparent value chains. Southeast Asia forms the third pillar. India's two-way goods trade with ASEAN hovers around US$110 billion. Still, both sides have agreed to fast-track a review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement to reduce non-tariff barriers and open services markets. Simultaneously, niche collaborations — such as semiconductor ecosystem talks with Singapore and defence-manufacturing tie-ups with Indonesia — are knitting India into 'China-plus-one' production networks across the region. This eastward economic orientation reinforces India's Indo-Pacific vision and places regional connectivity at its core. External diversification is reinforced at home by the PLI programmes, which now span 14 sectors with approved investments of approximately US$18.7 billion. One headline success is electronics: India has become the world's second-largest mobile phone maker, producing 99 per cent of the handsets sold domestically. Smartphone exports alone surged 55 per cent in FY 2024-25 to US$ 24.1 billion, leap-frogging petroleum and diamonds to become India's single most oversized export item and signalling a decisive shift toward higher-value manufacturing. India's industrial push is not only about import substitution — it is about export-led competitiveness in sunrise sectors. India's evolving economic strategy increasingly hinges on deepening ties with alternative partners across the Indo-Pacific. This pivot is also visible in recalibrating subregional engagement through BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation). As SAARC remains paralysed by India–Pakistan tensions, BIMSTEC has emerged as the primary forum for regional cooperation, offering a platform that bypasses Islamabad and aligns with India's Act East policy. At the 6th BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok in April 2025, member states adopted the Bangkok Vision 2030. They signed new agreements on maritime connectivity and security cooperation, signalling intent to re-anchor the Bay of Bengal as a geoeconomic hub. For India, BIMSTEC complements its external diversification efforts by linking its northeastern states to Southeast Asian economies, spurring regional infrastructure, trade, and logistical corridors that sidestep China. Finally, India's evolving engagement with China reflects a strategy of managed rivalry — balancing selective cooperation with strategic hedging. Rather than decoupling, India is recalibrating its economic and diplomatic posture by diversifying partnerships, securing resilient supply chains, and reducing dependence on China, especially as Beijing deepens ties with Pakistan. This marks a shift from reactive diplomacy to a tactically layered approach, where competition is contained without collapsing ties. The writer is a Fellow and Lead, World Economies and Sustainability at the Centre for New Economic Diplomacy (CNED) at Observer Research Foundation (ORF)


Hindustan Times
19 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
India's PC penetration is 20 years behind China — And that's a huge opportunity: Logitech
In January 2025, Logitech made a quiet but powerful move in the AI space. Through its Logitech G brand, Streamlabs partnered with NVIDIA and Inworld AI to introduce an AI agent designed to be a streamer's 3D sidekick, producer, and tech support rolled into one. 'We do have AI in our products, but we don't talk about AI for the sake of it. We talk about it only when it's meaningfully integrated," said For a company that dominates the peripherals market, Logitech's strategy in the ongoing AI boom raises a timely question: What kind of tools—or shovels—is Logitech offering in this new AI gold rush? Moninder Jain, Vice-President & Head of Emerging Markets at Logitech, offers a refreshingly grounded answer. In an interview with HT, he said, 'We do have AI in our products, but we don't talk about AI for the sake of it. We talk about it only when it's meaningfully integrated.' One of the more ambitious initiatives is Logitech's Agentive AI, built in collaboration with NVIDIA. 'It acts like both a producer and a wingman,' said Jain, helping streamers enhance their live performance while guiding them in real time. Ultimately, Jain's stance is clear: 'Our philosophy has always been: do first, then talk. We prefer to showcase what we've already built rather than talk in vague terms about the future. Today, AI is integral. Without AI, there is no tech anymore.' PC market in India Logitech sees India on the cusp of a major shift in personal computing. Jain noted a low PC penetration in India, roughly where China was two decades ago, which he believes is turning into an opportunity. 'With India's per capita income on the rise and PC shipments starting to grow, we're optimistic that the adoption curve will steepen,' he said. He referenced external market reports that show flat growth but asserted that Logitech's internal data suggests a much sharper increase, driven by factors such as digital adoption, remote work, and demand for productivity tools. Echoing this optimism, Jain pointed out that the pandemic highlighted a key insight: 'Serious tasks—whether it's programming, designing, or document creation—can't be done effectively on a mobile screen.' More Indian consumers and professionals are realising the value of a larger screen and dedicated workspace. Growth in education technology, work-from-home setups, and content creation tools further support the trend. 'People are recognising the value of having a larger screen and a dedicated workspace,' he said, signalling confidence that India is poised for vertical growth in PC adoption. Integrating AI into Hardware, Not A New Standalone Device Asked whether Logitech plans to develop a new AI-centric device (like a ChatGPT-enabled gadget), Jain made it clear that Logitech's strategy is to embed AI deeply into existing hardware rather than launch standalone AI devices. 'Currently, we're focused on integrating AI into everything we do—particularly into our hardware. A completely new, standalone AI device is not on the roadmap for now,' he stated. Instead, Logitech continues to weave AI into peripherals people already use, ensuring incremental improvements across its product lines. Video Conferencing and Hybrid Work in India The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated remote and hybrid work, and video conferencing has become a permanent part of the professional landscape. Jain noted that in India, video collaboration is still in early stages of adoption: even now, only about a single-digit percentage of conference rooms are equipped for video meetings. Pre-COVID, this percentage was even lower, which means there is 'massive headroom for growth,' he said. Logitech entered the video conferencing market before the pandemic and disrupted it by offering affordable, USB-powered, platform-agnostic solutions (compatible with Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, etc.). Customers had previously spent tens of thousands of dollars on complex setups; Logitech's plug-and-play devices like the Rally and MeetUp brought enterprise-grade audio and video to small and medium meeting rooms without traditional complexity or cost. Jain observed that the market continues to grow as hybrid work norms take hold, stating that 'video conferencing is still in its early adoption stage' and that there's 'huge scope' for expansion in India's offices and educational institutions. India's Gaming Market The gaming ecosystem in India is 'still in its formative years,' Jain observed. Unlike countries such as Vietnam and Thailand, India lacks certain infrastructure like established gaming cafes, structured tournaments, and stable eSports teams with formal contracts. He pointed out specific challenges that inhibit growth: Unreliable power supply and intermittent internet connectivity, which disrupt gameplay. Limited access to organised competitions and professional training. A shortage of gaming-friendly venues and community support. Despite these challenges, Jain is hopeful. He believes that ongoing improvements in digital infrastructure and the increasing interest of India's young population will help the gaming market catch up. In the meantime, Logitech continues to support Indian gamers through its hardware and esports collaborations, anticipating that as conditions improve, the market will expand rapidly. Mobile finder: Best price of iPhone 16 Logitech's Internal Use of AI Logitech isn't only embedding AI in its products; it's also using AI internally to boost productivity. Jain revealed that the company applies AI for various enterprise-level tasks, from improving internal tools to analysing data for product innovation. While specific platforms weren't named, he said teams are free to experiment with tools like ChatGPT for brainstorming and drafting, with the caveat that sensitive information must be handled carefully. He emphasized an important balance: AI is a 'co-pilot, not a decision-maker.' Logitech's policy advises caution when feeding confidential data into third-party AI, and always validates AI-generated outputs with human oversight ('Natural Intelligence'). In Jain's words: 'These tools are great for generating early drafts or design options, but we always validate and refine outputs through human intelligence.'
&w=3840&q=100)

Business Standard
20 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Trump calls US-Japan car trade unfair, floats keeping 25% tariffs
US President Donald Trump floated the idea of keeping 25 per cent tariffs on Japan's cars as talks between the two nations continued with little more than a week to go before a slew of higher duties are set to kick in if a trade deal isn't reached. 'So we give Japan no cars. They won't take our cars, right? And yet we take millions and millions of their cars into the United States. It's not fair,' Trump said during a Fox News interview that aired Sunday. The comments show that the two sides still remain some distance from an agreement and highlight the risk that Trump may stick with the 25 per cent tariff on autos. The interview came out after another round of talks between Tokyo's top trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Akazawa flew across the world to hold face-to-face talks in Washington, and while they initially met in person, two subsequent discussions took place on the phone. 'Japan-US negotiations are at a critical stage, and we will continue to engage in sincere and earnest discussions,' he said in a post on X. Both sides agreed to continue talks this week after the Trump interview took place on Friday, he added. Auto-related stocks on the Topix were down around 0.4 per cent in Tokyo, early Monday afternoon, compared with a 0.8 per cent gain in the overall index. The duty on the car sector has emerged as one of the key sticking points in the talks. Washington is focusing on its large deficit in the sector while Tokyo is trying to protect a key pillar of its economy. In 2024, Japan's trade surplus with the US stood at ¥8.6 trillion ($59.3 billion). Roughly 82 per cent of the gap was due to Japan's surplus in cars and auto parts. US statistics show that the deficit with Japan is the seventh largest among Washington's individual trading partners. Akazawa has repeatedly said that the US's car tariffs are unacceptable, saying that Japan's auto industry has made an enormous contribution to the US economy through the investment of more than $60 billion and the creation of 2.3 million local jobs. Japan has insisted on keeping the sectoral tariffs on cars and other items included in the talks on the wider country-specific levies that are due to go up on July 9. Akazawa has said he will keep the deadline in mind but won't fixate on it as Tokyo aims to settle all trade disputes with a package that addresses the sectoral tariffs, too. Statements released by the Japanese government over the weekend said Akazawa and Lutnick had 'fruitful' discussions and agreed to continue seeking a deal that is beneficial for both the US and Japan. The statements did not touch on what was discussed or what progress was made. The 25 per cent US tariff is already in place on cars and auto parts, along with a 50 per cent duty on steel and aluminum. The separate across-the-board tariffs, now at 10 per cent, will jump to 24 per cent if no deal is reached in time. Without a breakthrough in the negotiations, Japan's economy could be pushed into a technical recession after it shrank in the first quarter. Trump's statements in the interview gave no impression that Japan was any closer to reaching a deal or winning an extended reprieve on the reciprocal tariffs. Instead, Trump flagged that the US can set its trade terms with Japan unilaterally.