- Zepto co-founder and CEO Aadit palicha took a dig at Piyush Goyal’s remarks
- Aravind Srinivas, co-founder and CEO of Perplexity AI, came to Goyal’s defence
- Aman Gupta, co-founder of Boat, also backed Piyush Goyal’s remarks
Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s recent remark at the Startup Mahakumbh 2025 in New Delhi has ignited a controversy in the startup ecosystem. Goyal questioned whether India’s startups are content with merely creating low-paying gig jobs, saying “Should we aspire to be, or are we going to be happy being delivery boys and girls?” This comment was made while comparing India’s startup landscape to China’s.
Goyal expressed concerns about India’s startup ecosystem, stating, “What are India’s startups of today? We are focused on food delivery apps, turning unemployed youth into cheap labour so the rich can get their meals without moving out of their house.” He acknowledged India’s progress but emphasized that there is still room for improvement, adding, “We are very proud of what India has done, but are we the best in the world as yet? Not yet.”
“Only 1,000 startups in India’s deep-tech space is a disturbing situation,” Goyal noted, calling for a stronger focus on innovation beyond e-commerce and service-based businesses.
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Zepto CEO Aadit Palicha was among those who responded to Goyal’s comment. Palicha highlighted the significant impact of his company, Zepto, which has created nearly 1.5 lakh jobs and generated almost “₹1,000+ Crores of tax contribution to the government per year.”
Aadit Palicha addressed criticism of consumer internet startups in India, particularly when compared to those in the U.S. and China. In an X post, he presented a contrasting view, highlighting the tangible impact of Zepto.
Palicha wrote, “It is easy to criticise consumer internet startups in India, especially when you compare them to the deep technical excellence being built in U.S./China. Using our example, the reality is this: there are almost 1.5 Lakh real people who are earning livelihoods on Zepto today – a company that did not exist 3.5 years ago. ₹1,000+ Crores of tax contribution to the government per year, over a billion dollars of FDI brought into the country and hundreds of crores invested in organising India’s back-end supply chains (especially for fresh fruits and vegetables).” He concluded, “if this progress ‘isn’t a miracle in Indian innovation’ then he doesn’t know what is.”
Aadit Palicha questioned the absence of a large-scale foundational AI model in India, attributing it to the country’s lack of great internet companies. He drew parallels with global giants, mentioning that companies like Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Alibaba all started as consumer internet companies before becoming major players in AI.
Palicha emphasized the crucial role consumer internet companies play in driving innovation, stating, “Consumer internet companies drive this innovation because they have the best data, talent, and capital to put behind it.” He highlighted the importance of these companies in spearheading advancements in AI.
“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,” he added.
Aadit Palicha humbly acknowledged that Zepto is not yet a “great Internet company,” but is striving to achieve that status. He expressed his long-term commitment to driving “dynamism in the Indian economy,” dedicating the next few decades of his life to this endeavor. Palicha concluded by emphasizing that India possesses both talent and capital, but what it truly needs is “execution.”
In a recent development, Aravind Srinivas, co-founder and CEO of Perplexity AI, on Wednesday defended Union Minister Piyush Goyal’s remarks while speaking virtually at the Rising Bharat Summit 2025 event in New Delhi. He described the minister’s comments as “a very positively provocative comment and meant to instigate to build,” to ignite ambition and improvement within the Indian startup landscape.
Earlier this week, Aman Gupta, co-founder of Boat, also backed Piyush Goyal’s remarks. In a post on X, Gupta wrote, “Benchmarking against China, the US, or anyone else — isn’t weakness. It’s smart strategy. We’re already the 3rd largest startup ecosystem in the world and the fastest-growing major economy. But if we want to be No.1 — We need to also go deep into AI, deeptech, climate, mobility, infra. We need LLMs and innovation stacks that compete on global standards,”
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