Piyush Goyal blasts Congress after criticism over remarks on Indian startups

Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal has hit out at the Congress party after coming under criticism for comparing Indian startups with Chinese startups.

The minister accused the Congress of distorting his message after a section of industry leaders countered Goyal for saying that Indian startups were more interested in making ice creams than chips.

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Goyal flays Congress

"The Congress, with their various handles, completely distorted my comments and my efforts to inspire our young startups to look for big aspirations,” Goyal told ANI.

“Our young men and women are looking for a better life and striving for world-class achievements. The Congress party has an ecosystem, they tried to create a false and manufactured narrative,” he said.

Remark that drew fire

Goyal, speaking earlier at the Startup Maha Kumbh, had questioned the current focus of Indian startups on consumer technology such as food delivery apps.

He demanded to know if this was the best path for India's technological progress.

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"Do we have to make ice cream or chips? Dukaandari hi karna hai?" he asked, highlighting the need for ambition beyond consumer tech. He described as “a disturbing situation” the limited number of deep-tech startups in India.

Criticism from startup community

Goyal’s comments sparked reactions from the startup community.

Karan Chawla, co-founder of Gaonzy, highlighted the lack of institutional support for deep-tech innovation in India and said the government's support was insufficient.

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Former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai questioned the commerce ministry’s role in fostering such ventures.

"India has many deep-tech startups but no capital to grow fast," he noted. Pai warned that the commerce ministry's startup division "seems to have given up".

Aadit Palicha, co-founder of Zepto, defended consumer Internet startups, emphasising their contribution to innovation and economic growth.

Others defend minister

But Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal expressed support for the minister.

“Our startup community needs to introspect as to why we’re just building consumer tech companies,” he said. "Entrepreneurs need to reflect and instead of building lifestyle apps, build innovation and future tech.”

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Aman Gupta, co-founder of boAt and a Shark Tank India investor, clarified that the minister’s remarks were not critical of founders but a call to raise ambitions.