Startup Ecosystem Goes Into A Meltdown On Piyush Goyal's On-Point Remark

While the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, has shed light on what the Indian startup ecosystem can do better, the startup ecosystem triggered by his sharp criticism has gone into a severe meltdown.

Not only has Goyal's commentary sent shockwaves through the ample number of entrepreneurs from the Indian startup  ecosystem but it has also triggered a very public meltdown on social media.

Startup Owners React On X

Several netizens that are also entrepreneurs have taken to the social media platform X to react to Ashneer Grover's post, where the former co-founder of BharatPe responded to all of Piyush Goyal's digs at the Indian startup ecosystem.

Grover in his post said that the only people who need a 'reality check' in India are it's politicians and everyone else is living in the absolute reality of India.

There were several comments on this post, wherein people sided with Grover supporting h9is views. One such comment by Vinay Rai, who is a professional engineer turned agri-entrepreneur, said that he is "facing road blocks for getting bank loans. Govt Banks reject my loan application for scaling my Agri startup, focused on promoting organic food & building farmer networks, citing 'low sales' and Initial losses."

While tagging Piyush Goyal, Shivraj Chouhan and Nirmala Sitharaman , Rai said that India needs policies that reflects unique needs of Agri startups and creating farmer networks, adding, "Let's talk real solutions for scaling Agri startups & farmer empowerment."

In yet another response, a netizen called Dipak Sharma, said that food delivery apps boosted the gig economy by transferring money of rich/upper-middle class directly to the hands of low income people. "Before, UC and Ola Uber were contributing to it but the threshold to buy a car reqd handful cash for the son sitting idle in a city and parents selling their land to make him see earn employment for the day's food."

Additionally, Zepto's co-founder Aadit Palicha also pointed out in a separate post on X that India's consumer startups have generated thousands of crore in tax contributions and provided employment opportunities.

Palicha added that India does not have a large-scale foundational AI model because "we still haven't built great internet companies. Most technology-led innovation over the past 2 decades has originated from consumer internet companies."

According to him, "The startup ecosystem, the government, and the owners of large pools of Indian capital need to actively support the creation of these local champions, not pull down the teams that are trying hard to get there."
 

While there is general disdain from the sector for lack of policies facilitating ease-of-business, several reactions on the post also pointed out that there is a need for job creators and policymakers to work in unison, and not talk past each other.

Also Read: Ashneer Grover Comes In Support Of Startup Ecosystem Amid Piyush Goyal's Start Up Remarks