New Delhi, June 14 -- A viral LinkedIn post by Shirsh Bajpai, co-founder of AevyTV, has ignited discussion online after he disclosed that he once pretended to be from the Netherlands in order to secure international freelance work.

Bajpai said he began freelancing at the age of 17 and quickly realised that being identified as an Indian creator often made it harder to attract foreign clients. According to him, some prospects declined to work with him after learning where he was from, while others made racist remarks.

"At 17, I pretended to be a guy from the Netherlands so foreign clients would pay me. It worked. I was making Rs.80,000 a month, as a teenager," he wrote.

To overcome what he perceived as bias, Bajpai said he created an ent...