Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday flayed Indian startups, asking them to shift their focus from food delivery apps to tech like that in China. Goyal’s criticism drew sharp reaction from former Infosys CFO, who argued that India does not get enough opportunities to expand its startup ecosystems.
Piyush Goyal made the comments on Thursday while inaugurating the Startup Mahakumbh. Here is a comprehensive account on what happened.
Mohandas Pai blasts Piyush Goyal
During his speech, Piyush Goyal pulled up a slide that compared India’s startups to those in China. The slide shows that Indian startups focus on food and grocery delivery apps, and ice creams and sports fantasy apps among others. In comparison, Chinese startups are more about EVs, semiconductors, AI and other such high-tech industries.
Taking a jibe at Goyal, Mohandas Pai said that he should not ‘belittle’ Indian startups, adding that these were ‘bad comparisons’.
“These are bad comparisons. India has startups in all those areas too but they are small. Minister @PiyushGoyal should not belittle our startups but ask himself what has he done as our Minister to help deep tech start ups grow in India? It is easy to point fingers at them,” he quipped.
“We have a hostile @FinMinIndia @nsitharaman who harassed start ups on Angel tax for many years, do not allow endowments to invest, insurance cos still do not invest whereas they do globally, @RBI regularly harasses overseas investors on remittances and AIF’s, treat them badly, cos FE rules. China invested 845b$ from 2014/24 India only 160b$! Why is Minister @PiyushGoyal @AshwiniVaishnaw not helping solve these issues,” the former Infosys CFO asked.
Take a look at his post here:
Piyush Goyal chides Indian startups
During his speech on Thursday, Piyush Goyal said that food delivery apps are turning unemployed Indian youth into delivery personnel for the rich.
“What are India startups of today—we are focussed on food delivery apps, turning unemployed youth into cheap labour so the rich can get their meals without moving out of their house,” he said.
He asked the Indian startup community to shift their focus from “grocery delivery and ice cream making” to to high tech sector like semiconductor, machine learning, robotics, and artificial intelligence.
“Are we going to be happy being delivery boys and girls… Is that the destiny of India… this is not startup, this is entrepreneurship… What other side is doing — robotics, machine learning, 3D manufacturing and next generation factories factories,” he said.
Piyush Goyal further noted that the new startups should focus on preparing the nation for the future.
“Do we have to make ice cream or chips?” he asked. “Dukaandari hi karna hai (Do we want to just sell things),” he asked.
The minister stressed the need for increasing domestic capital investments, stating that a strong foundation of indigenous investment is crucial to reducing dependency on foreign capital and ensuring long-term economic resilience.
