Startup Founders Discuss Growth, Deeptech Innovation With Piyush Goyal

A host of Indian startup founders reportedly met Union Minister Piyush Goyal to discuss the ecosystem’s growth landscape.

A Business Standard report said that the interaction was organised by the Startup Policy Forum on April 24.

Among the proposed initiatives include efforts to bring back skilled global talent, enhancing the impact of the government’s Fund of Funds and promoting deep tech innovation. 

Besides, the founders proposed setting up an investment fund led by the entrepreneurs.

The meeting focused on steps to ease business operations, including the process of companies’ shifting their domicile back to India.

The founders also proposed simplifying the process of merger and demerger, increasing government’s support for global expansion and promoting startup movements to smaller regions. 

OYO’s founder Ritesh Agarwal highlighted the need to retain and attract global talent to the Indian startup ecosystem. He said that the startup ecosystem needs to be appealing to its own highly skilled workforce by simplifying employee-centric policies.

ixigo’s managing director and group CEO Aloke Bajpai said, “We came up with some action items for both sides (founders and government).”

The meeting also saw participation from healthcare startup Practo’s cofounder and CEO Shashank ND, spacetech startup Digantara’s founder and CEO Anirudh Sharma and fintech startup Stashfin’s cofounder Shruti Aggarwal.

The meeting was held a few days after Goyal met senior executives of Elon Musk-led satellite communication (satcom) operator Starlink to discuss the company’s future investment plan in India.

Goyal’s Startup Ecosystem Outlook

The meeting comes at a time when Goyal has been giving several bittersweet statements regarding the Indian startup ecosystem. 

Earlier this month, the minister became part of a controversy after giving a “reality check” to Indian startups at the Startup Mahakumbh. During his inaugural speech at the event, Goyal presented a slide, titled “India Vs China: The Startup Reality Check”, which compared tech innovations in both the countries. 

He also pointed out that Indian startups are focusing on food deliveries while the neighbouring country has fortified its tech solutions in the deeptech sectors. 

Around the same time, Goyal also announced a new dedicated helpline for startups. This helpline will facilitate startups to report “corrupt” government officials and register complaints of bribes.

Last month, Goyal said that the government has set its eyes on fostering 5,000 unicorns in the country.