'Dukaandari hi karna hai?' Union Minister Piyush Goyal slams Indian startups; Zepto founder Aadit Palicha, Mohandas Pai, others hit back

Several business leaders and startup founders have hit back at Union Minister Piyush Goyal after he criticised the startup ecosystem in India.
Goyal, 60, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, said at a recent event that startups in the country were overly focused on food delivery and fantasy sports. He compared India's startup ecosystem with that of China, where he said startups were working on technologically-advanced fields such as electric vehicles (EVs), battery tech, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence (AI).

What did Goyal say?
"Do we have to make ice cream or chips? Dukaandari hi karna hai (Do we just want to do shopkeeping)?" Goyal said in his speech at the Startup Maha Kumbh on Thursday (April 3). He further questioned whether the country was content with low-paying gig jobs rather than striving for technological progress.

Business leaders and founders slam Goyal
A number of business leaders and startup founders have slammed Goyal for his comments.
Mohandas Pai -- a prominent investor and former CFO of Infosys -- said the comparison with China was unfair and raised concerns about the government's contribution in facilitating the growth of tech startups in India.
"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?" Pai wrote in a post on X.

Ashneer Grover, one of the co-founders of BharatPe, also criticised Goyal's remarks. "The only people in India who need a 'reality check' are it’s politicians. Everyone else is living in the absolute reality of India," Grover wrote.
"China also had food delivery first and then evolved to deep tech. It's great to aspire for what they've done - maybe time for politicians to aspire for 10% plus economic growth rate for 20 years flat before chiding today's job creators," he added.

Aadit Palicha, the co-founder of food and grocery delivery platform Zepto, joined the chorus defending India's startup ecosystem.
"It is easy to criticise consumer internet startups in India, especially when you compare them to the deep technical excellence being built in US/China."

Anupam Mittal, the founder of the matrimonial platform Shaadi.com, also took a jibe at Goyal. "Founders can do most things but not EVERYTHING," he wrote in an X post.

Startups in India
India is currently home to nearly 20,000 startups, of which around 4,750 are technology-led businesses, according to the Startup India website.