[chapliboy]

I can only speak from personal experience (and second hand I guess).

There is close to no 996 really. Most Indian tech startups are trying to emulate the FAANG style of work, both good and bad. So that means officially there is an 8 hour a day expectation, but in practice, there is a lot of cultural pressure to work more, stay at office longer, work on Saturdays etc. But even with that, I don't think I would compare that to 996.

My first job was a fairly early stage startup, and all of us were really young and rearing to go. So there was a group of us that did a 995 for about a year, but it was just a small group, and a lot of it was boardgames after 7pm.

My second one was a later stage startup. They were far more "professional". Nobody worked extra hours because no one cared enough to. So that got a little boring after a while.

Larger companies tend to have more sane working hours. But cultural pressures vary by the company.

My view on Zerodha itself, through the onsite visit I had, was that the hours would be fairly sane, maybe a few saturdays here and there. But there was also a huge social aspect that they highlighted, which was after-hours activities in the office premises, which comes with a certain amount of pressure to attend.