Sharp remarks by Trade Minister Piush Naked at the startup Mahakumb on April 3 sparked a stitched response from initial leaders, ruling the debate on Innovation Priorities in India.
Goyal urged entrepreneurs to rethink their value proposals, suggesting that too many startups were focused on food delivery and instant logistics with little long -term economic impact. He said many startups end up turning unemployed youth into cheap labor, rather than pushing sectors such as semiconductors, robotics, EV and battery technology – areas where, he noted, Chinese startups are advancing.
His stroke on “fancy ice cream” and instant grocery applications did not go unnoticed. In a strongly formulated post on x, Co-founder of Zepto Aadite Palina He defended the role of consumer internet companies in driving innovation and employment.
“It is easy to criticize the startups of internet consumers in India, especially when you compare them with the deep technical excellence being built in the United States/China,” Palicha wrote.
He Laid Out Zepto’s Economic Contributions in Numbers: “There are Almost 1.5 Lakh Real People Who Are Earning A LivingiHood on Zepto Today – A Company that Did Not Exist 3.5 Years AGO. Contribution to the government per year, over a billion dollars of fdi brought in the country, and hundreds of crores invested in organizing india’s backend Supply chains (Especially for Fresh Fruits and vegetables). If that is no wonder in Indian innovation, I honestly don’t know what it is. “
Former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai He also came out in Goyal, saying the minister should not “belittle our startups” and ask what the Ministry of Commerce did to promote deep technological investments. “India has a lot of startups with deep technologies, but there is no capital to grow fast,” Pai said, calling on the government to offer support and warning that the ministry’s initial division “seems to have given up”.
Meanwhile, Palicha explained why India still lacks a domestic basic model of AI, “this is because we have not yet built great internet companies … Consumer consumer companies drive this innovation because they have the best data, talents and capital behind it.”
He urged the ecosystem, government and capital owners to support local internet champions instead of breaking them. “We need to build great local champions on the Internet … If we ever want to get some of the great technological revolutions,” he said, promising to reinvest profits in long -term innovation.
