'China didn't build Huawei by...': Gaonzy co-founder defends consumer tech startups in response to Piyush Goyal

Karan Chawla, co-founder of Gaonzy, has hit back at Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal's recent criticism of Indian startups, defending consumer tech ventures and calling out the government’s lack of institutional support for deep-tech innovation.

At the Startup Maha Kumbh in Delhi, Goyal had asked, “Do we have to make ice cream or chips? Dukaandari hi karna hai?” He criticised the startup ecosystem for focusing on consumer tech over hard tech, and highlighted that India had “only 1,000 startups in India's deep-tech space,” calling it “a disturbing situation.”

Chawla, in a sharp LinkedIn post, pushed back: “But let’s ask the right questions.” He wrote, “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’?”

He argued that the real issue lies not in what startups are building, but in what the system fails to support. “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.”

Chawla pointed to systemic shortcomings. “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?”

Defending the impact of consumer startups, he added: “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.”

Chawla also raised critical questions: “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?”

He concluded with a pointed challenge to the establishment: “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?”

Meanwhile, Goyal also announced a startup helpline under the Startup India initiative, inviting entrepreneurs to report corruption, suggest legal reforms, or flag grievances. “If you believe you haven't done anything wrong and worked within the ambit of the law, you can complain through the helpline,” he said.