Minister's Remarks Spark Debate: At Startup Mahakumbh, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal criticized Indian startups for focusing on food delivery and consumer tech, questioning if India wants to remain a nation of “delivery boys and girls”
Karan Chawla Responds: Founder of Gaonzi, Karan Chawla, defended startups like Zepto and Swiggy, emphasizing their role in job creation, logistics development, and formalizing MSMEs. He argued that startups are unfairly labeled as mere shopkeepers while industrial giants like Reliance and Tata are celebrated for similar ventures
Systemic Challenges Highlighted: Chawla pointed out that India’s deep-tech ecosystem lacks institutional support, patient capital, and coherent policies. He criticized the government for burdens like Angel Tax and inconsistent policy environments that hinder innovation
Call to Action: Instead of shaming entrepreneurs, Chawla urged the government to address why India hasn’t produced global tech leaders like Stripe or Tesla. He questioned the lack of deep-tech products from PSUs and domestic VC support from institutions like LIC and SBI
Startup Contributions: Chawla emphasized that startups have significantly boosted India’s economy in a decade, creating jobs and solving real-world problems. He advocated for celebrating this generation’s entrepreneurial spirit rather than dismissing their efforts as “dukaandari”
The Linked post:
"At #StartupMahakumbh, Commerce Minister #PiyushGoyal slammed Indian #startups for focusing on food delivery and consumer tech, asking if India only wants to be a country of “delivery boys and girls.”
With due respect, Piyush ji —
When #Reliance builds retail, it’s called innovation.
When #Tata launches quick commerce, it’s vision.
When #Infosys misses every wave beyond IT services, we call it “conservative strategy.”
But when young founders build Zepto, Swiggy or Flipkart — they’re reduced to “dukaandari”?
It’s easy to compare Indian startups with those in China or the US. But China didn’t build Huawei and BYD by asking its youth to “do better” — it built them through state funding, local procurement mandates, and global scale capital.
India’s deep-tech scene isn’t lacking talent. It’s lacking institutional support, patient capital, and a coherent policy environment. The same system that burdened startups with Angel Tax, no access to domestic institutional capital, and policy flip-flops, now wants them to take moonshots?
We’re proud of building dukaans — ones that generate jobs, build logistics networks, formalize MSMEs, and create real customer delight. Not every revolution looks like AI chips. Some are built one doorstep at a time.
Instead of shaming India’s most vibrant entrepreneurs, let’s ask:
Why haven’t our industrial giants built anything close to a Stripe, NVIDIA, or Tesla?
Why hasn’t India produced one globally respected deep-tech product from its PSUs?
Why aren’t LIC, SBI, or insurance funds backing deep-tech VC funds?
India’s startup ecosystem has done more for Bharat’s economy in a decade than many institutions have in generations.
So yes, dukaandari hi karni hai. Because this generation isn’t ashamed of creating jobs, solving daily problems, or building with speed. The question is — will the system back us?"
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