From being called ‘Papa ki pari’, ‘irritating’ to ‘senseless’; times when Namita Thapar got trolled and how she handled them like a boss

A prominent topic of discussion on social media revolves around pharmaceutical giant Namita Thapar's signature phrase, "Isme meri expertise nahi hai, I am out," sparking debates among netizens questioning her presence at the table without the necessary expertise, leading to instances of trolling and Namita’s response to critics.

One of the entrepreneurs, who’s pitch got rejected, cited in a tweet, “My only request to Namita was since she liked us but opted out from the fund raise due to her non understanding our tech business, she could have either opted out of all tech pitches totally since she said that too many other tech pitches OR she should have tried to understand ours.”

Namita once encountered online backlash suggesting that her success stems solely from inherited wealth. However, during an Ask Me Anything session, Namita Thapar graciously and confidently addressed a user who questioned her achievements without "daddy's money," asserting, "I am a CA (first attempt)... MBA... with fantastic credentials... I'm sure I would do just fine even without my father's financial support, my friend!"

One user wrote, “Lately, whatever Namita says these days to founders is really irritating and senseless. On top of my mind, with the ‘GUD GUM’ pitch, she says ‘mene dekha nahi hai adults ko chewing gum khate hue’, I mean what is she doing, does she roam around watching people whether they are eating chewing gum or not. And later in the reasons for not giving a deal she says ‘your chewing gum is too sweet for me’ as one of the reasons. I hope she doesn’t do this with the product/ R&D team in her day to day.”

One user wrote, “Other sharks find reasons to invest, she find reasons to not invest. I understand her safe investment approach that she wants to make her money back but most of the times she is out for a bullshit reason or she doesn’t even understand a business.”

In an exclusive chat with ETimes TV, she said, “I think it is fun. People have very stressful lives. We provide a bit of humour, laughter, entertainment. They have fun at our expense so why not. I know how to have fun with it. At times they are deliberate. I do it just for masti because I know the other sharks will smirk and the audience as well.”

“Sometimes a lot of time, it’s just you and it comes out. When there’s a healthcare pitch, I get very competitive. Then it comes out authentically. But sometimes it is planted, because I am a very badmaash person. I like to do masti on sets. I like to have fun and a good time,” she said.

From day one, we get called nepo-kids and born with a silver spoon and papa ki pari. We are second generation. But what people don’t understand is, when I joined Emcure, we were 500 crores, we are 8000 crores now. To take it to that level as a group, the second and third generation also needs to have an entrepreneurial mindset. In India, 87% of our GDP is from family owned businesses. We are the third largest country, when it comes to just family businesses. While founders are fabulous, family businesses also have a very important place. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th generation also have a very important role. Sometimes, people don’t think through that. It’s just their ignorance, you just can’t help it.