‘Congress completely distorted my comments’: Piyush Goyal's clarification on ‘dukandaari’ remark

Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has defended his recent comments comparing Indian startups with their Chinese counterparts, following criticism from political opponents and industry leaders. Goyal accused the Congress party of distorting his message to create a misleading narrative.

"Incidentally, I did a very deep analysis of the entire ecosystem which tried to misinterpret my comment, and you will be amazed by my findings. The Congress party, with their various handles, completely distorted my comments and my efforts to inspire our young startups to look for big aspirations. Our young men and women are looking for a better life and looking to achieve world class achievements. The Congress party has an ecosystem, they tried to create a false and manufactured narrative. They are regular culprits, I am not worried about that," he stated to news agency ANI.

Goyal, speaking at Startup Maha Kumbh, had questioned the current focus of Indian startups on consumer technology, such as food delivery apps, and whether this was the best path for India's technological progress. "Do we have to make ice cream or chips? Dukaandari hi karna hai?" he asked, highlighting the need for ambition beyond consumer tech.

He pointed to the limited number of deep-tech startups in India, describing the situation as "a disturbing situation." His comments sparked reactions from the startup community.

In response, Karan Chawla, co-founder of Gaonzy, highlighted the lack of institutional support for deep-tech innovation in India, pointing out that the government's support is insufficient. Former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai echoed these sentiments, questioning the role of the Commerce Ministry in fostering such ventures. "India has many deep-tech startups but no capital to grow fast," he noted, urging government support. Pai warned that the Ministry's startup division "seems to have given up."

Aadit Palicha, co-founder of Zepto, defended consumer internet startups, emphasising their contribution to innovation and economic growth. Palicha argued that these companies possess the necessary data and talent to drive innovation, stating, "It's because we still haven't built great internet companies... Consumer internet companies drive this innovation because they have the best data, talent, and capital to put behind it." He stressed the need to build local internet champions.

However, Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal expressed support for the minister and said, “Our startup community needs to introspect as to why we’re just building consumer tech companies.” "Entrepreneurs need to reflect and instead of building lifestyle apps, build innovation and future tech,” he said.

Aman Gupta, co-founder of boAt and a Shark Tank India investor, clarified that the minister’s remarks were not critical of founders but a call to raise ambitions. "It's not every day that the government asks founders to dream bigger," Gupta shared on X.

Harsh Goenka, Chairman of RPG Enterprises, supported Goyal's message too, emphasising a shift from ease to effort and long-term value.