Piyush Goyal

Goyal, last week, highlighted the stark contrast between India and China, arguing that domestic startup space was too focused on food delivery and gig work

According to Wadhwa, India has a real global advantage in this AI era as it has massive and diverse datasets of people.

The debate on startups and its contribution started on April 3 when Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal put the startup economy under sharp scrutiny and questioned whether India was settling for low-paying gig jobs while China raced ahead in deep-tech innovation.

The billionaire founder of Info Edge countered the allegations made by fellow founder and columnist Suhel Seth who recently claimed that '80 percent startups in India are nothing but a racket'.

Suhel Sethi also said that Zepto co-founder and CEO Aadit Palicha's point on startups providing employment opportunities was illogical. 'Are startups an employment exchange? No. We need the incremental value that startups provide,' he said.

Anandan highlighted that innovation is not just about groundbreaking technology but solving real-world problems at scale.

Indian shares fell sharply today with the Sensex and Nifty crashing about 5 per cent in early trade, mirroring a sharp fall in global equities.

Goyal on April 7 also asked the larger players in the Indian industry to support smaller players to help upgrade their quality of products to global standards, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said on April 7.

Senior officials of the commerce ministry and representatives of export promotion councils (EPCs) and the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) will attend the deliberations, according to the industry official.

'The only people in India who need a ‘reality check’ are its politicians. Everyone else is living in the absolute reality of India,' former Shark Tank India judge Ashneer Grover said.

These announcements follow recent remarks by Goyal that has sparked a debate. At a separate investment summit in Delhi, he slammed the overemphasis on food and hyper-delivery apps, suggesting Indian startups should pivot towards more advanced technologies, akin to those being developed in China.

On April 3, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal drew parallels between Indian and Chinese startups and said the companies at home lack innovation

Piyush Goyal said instead of innovation in deeptech or more impactful industries, startups often turn unemployed youth into cheap labour.

Aadit Palicha also addressed the larger question raised by Piyush Goyal regarding India’s absence from the global AI race. 'Why doesn’t India have its own large-scale foundational AI model? It’s because we still haven’t built great internet companies,' he wrote, referencing global giants like Amazon, Facebook, Google and Alibaba.

The former Shark Tank judge said politicians in India are the only ones who need a “reality check”, not others

The minister criticised the trend of repackaging premium consumer products as startups, arguing that such businesses do not represent the kind of disruptive innovation India needs.

Goyal also pointed to the lack of deep-tech startups in India as a major concern. “Only 1,000 startups in India's deep-tech space is a disturbing situation,” he remarked, adding that the country needs to focus on innovation beyond e-commerce and services.

Piyush Goyal said startups have worked to help India’s economy grow with their new and innovative ideas, new ways of functioning,

The minister also highlighted the pace at which trade deals are being negotiated with the likes of Peru and called for faster outcomes.

Piyush Goyal said he had a forward looking discussion with Jamieson Greer recently.