Prominent Indian investor and educationist as well as the ex-CFO of Infosys, Mohandas Pai shared a picture from Startup Mahakumbh, which shows a comparison between Indian and Chinese startups. He tagged Union Minister Piyush Goyal on X, and inquired why the organisers of Startup Mahakumbh are pushing Chinese propaganda against India.
This came a day after Goyal, speaking at the same event, said giving fancy packaging to ice-creams and cookies does not make it a start-up.
Speaking at Startup Mahakumbh, Goyal criticised the direction of Indian entrepreneurship, especially in the quick commerce space, asking, “Dukhandari ka hi kaam karna hai ya vishwavyapi aur international scale par Bharat ki pehchaan banani hai? [Are we just doing shopkeeper’s work, or are we aiming to build India’s identity on a global scale?]”
He contrasted Indian startups with those in China, which he claimed are focused on deep tech and innovation.
Mohandas Pai was among the many to have fired back at Goyal. Pai said that India does have “many deep tech startups” like China but questioned the government’s support, asking, “Where is the capital?”
“There are very many small deep tech startups in chip design, IOT, Robotics, EV charging, BMS in India, growing rapidly but where is the capital?” asked Mohandas Pai on X (formerly Twitter) as he tagged Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal.
He went on to draw a sharp contrast in global startup funding: “Indian startups got 160b $ from 2014/24, China 845b$, US 2.3Tr$. Long term investors like endowments, insurance still do not invest despite your efforts!” urging Goyal to improve the situation.
