Zepto CEO Co-founder responds to Piyush Goyal’s “Startup Reality Check” Comments

Responding to Piyush Goyal’s “Startup Reality Check”, Zepto Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer(CEO), Aadit Palicha stated that it was easy to criticise consumer internet companies, but they were the ones to bring innovation via data, talent and capital.

This comes after Union Minister of Commerce, Piyush Goyal criticised the Indian startups for their minimal contribution towards deep tech innovation or other impactful industries at the Startup Mahakumbh 2025. Additionally, he went on to compare India and China’s innovative sector where the former laid emphasis on reinforcing global trade stereotypes by mobilisng cheap labour, while the latter focussed on artificial intelligence and electric vehicles.

In a post on LinkedIn, Palicha said that Zepto created over 1,00,000 jobs by contributing a tax of ₹1000 crore. It’s also a quick commerce platform that brought “over a billion dollars of foreign direct investment into the country”.

While being analytical of Goyal’s comments he argued that, “It is easy to criticise consumer internet startups in India, especially when you compare them to the deep technical excellence being built in US or China.” On the other hand, he questioned, “Why doesn’t India have its own large-scale foundational AI model? It’s because we still haven’t built great internet companies” pointing at the lack of India’s monopoly on tech-companies.

Giving a glimpse on future course of action he suggested that India needs to build “great local champions in internet” that can generate revenue in FCF to even head towards technological revolutions. He also highlighted the tangible impact of consumer internet ventures on FDI and GDP and the way forward to progress.