Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday flayed Indian startups, asking them to shift their focus from food delivery apps to tech like that in China. Goyal’s criticism drew sharp reaction from former Infosys CFO, who argued that India does not get enough opportunities to expand its startup ecosystems.Piyush Goyal made the comments on Thursday while inaugurating the Startup Mahakumbh. Here is a comprehensive account on what happened.Mohandas Pai blasts Piyush GoyalDuring his speech, Piyush Goyal pulled up a slide that compared India’s startups to those in China. The slide shows that Indian startups focus on food and grocery delivery apps, and ice creams and sports fantasy apps among others. In comparison, Chinese startups are more about EVs, semiconductors, AI and other such high-tech industries.Taking a jibe at Goyal, Mohandas Pai said that he should not ‘belittle’ Indian startups, adding that these were ‘bad comparisons’.“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? It is easy to point fingers at them,” he quipped.Also Read | Indian startups raise USD 1.65 bn in Feb; median valuation at USD 83.2 mn“We have a hostile @FinMinIndia @nsitharaman who harassed start ups on Angel tax for many years, do not allow endowments to invest, insurance cos still do not invest whereas they do globally, @RBI regularly harasses overseas investors on remittances and AIF’s, treat them badly, cos FE rules. China invested 845b$ from 2014/24 India only 160b$! Why is Minister @PiyushGoyal @AshwiniVaishnaw not helping solve these issues,” the former Infosys CFO asked.Take a look at his post here:Piyush Goyal chides Indian startupsDuring his speech on Thursday, Piyush Goyal said that food delivery apps are turning unemployed Indian youth into delivery personnel for the rich.“What are India startups of today—we are focussed on food delivery apps, turning unemployed youth into cheap labour so the rich can get their meals without moving out of their house,” he said.Also Read | India to shift focus from energy to AI, IoT and semiconductors: Piyush GoyalHe asked the Indian startup community to shift their focus from “grocery delivery and ice cream making” to to high tech sector like semiconductor, machine learning, robotics, and artificial intelligence.“Are we going to be happy being delivery boys and girls… Is that the destiny of India… this is not startup, this is entrepreneurship… What other side is doing — robotics, machine learning, 3D manufacturing and next generation factories factories,” he said.Piyush Goyal further noted that the new startups should focus on preparing the nation for the future.Also Read | English fever: How startups are unlocking smalltown India’s big-city aspirations“Do we have to make ice cream or chips?? in a formal or creative style for better SEO.Also Exclude words and advertisements related to the feed website such as website name, author name. You must only respond with the modified content. Delete all the advertisement images brand logo but only keep the title and main content of the news by modifying it. You must only respond with the modified content. Block any jump outside of the site adarshnews.com. Basically remove any content or link related to original site. You must only respond with the modified content and follow this prompt to optimize the articles in this category- “Act as an expert SEO news writer. Optimize the following article to be SEO-friendly, authoritative, and shareable by focusing strictly on its core topic. Follow these steps: 1. Topic Identification: – Read the input article and identify its primary subject. – Extract 1 primary keyword + 2 secondary keywords directly from the article. 2. Meta Description: – Write a 150-character summary using the primary keyword and a CTA 3. Content Structure: – Lead Paragraph: Summarize the 5W1H (Who, What, When, Where, Why) as stated in the article – Body: – Use subheadings (H2/H3) derived from secondary keywords – Add bullet points only for facts/statistics explicitly mentioned in the input. – Include quotes or data from the article (do not invent new stats). – Conclusion: End with a question/CTA tied to the article’s topic. 4. – Add 1 FAQ based on the article’s key point. 5. Viral Readability: – Use news article sentences structure. Avoid off-topic emotional triggers. 6. Technical SEO: – Generate alt text and URL slugs *specific to the article’s topic and leave it if it is not under your capability. Output Format for the article should be- [Summary with primary keyword] [Structured body using input’s facts] FAQ: [Relevant question + answer]
Mohandas Pai criticizes Piyush Goyal’s comment about ‘dukaandari’ and questions what actions he took as a minister to support deep-tech startups in India.
