Pushing back against recent criticisms by entrepreneur and columnist Suhel Seth, who claimed that “80% of Indian startups are nothing but a racket”, Info Edge founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani has come to the defence of India’s startup ecosystem.
Praising the resilience of Indian entrepreneurs, Bikhchandani stated, “Startup founders take a risk with their careers and their future to do what they do. And they struggle and they tighten their belts and they don’t give up. They are heroes and they should be respected and lionised, not abused,” in a post shared on X (formerly Twitter).
In the post, he called Seth’s allegations against startup founders, venture capitalists, and private equity investors “completely untrue, unfounded, and non-specific.”
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In his recent appearance on Republic TV, Seth supported Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s position and accused founders of enriching themselves while running loss-making ventures. “Eighty percent of startups in India are a racket… When was the last time you paid yourself ₹100 crore when your company was losing ₹3,000 crore? These guys are doing it,” Seth said.
Bikhchandani further defended Japanese investment giant SoftBank and its founder, Masayoshi Son, saying, “Perplexity informs me that Masa and SoftBank have invested over $15 billion in India. They are great believers in our country… We should be grateful – India is a capital-short country. This is particularly useful when Chinese capital is not permitted.”
Last week, at Startup Mahakumbh, the Union Minister expressed concern over India’s startup landscape, saying it was focused too heavily on food delivery and gig jobs, in contrast to China’s emphasis on deep-tech innovation.
“We are turning unemployed youth into cheap labour so the rich can get their meals without moving out of their house,” he said. His comments have prompted mixed reactions from the entrepreneurial community.
Indian entrepreneur Aman Gupta, co-founder of audio-centric product making company boAt, has backed the statement of Union Minister. “It’s not every day that the government asks founders to dream bigger. But at Startup Mahakumbh, that’s exactly what happened. I was there. I heard the full speech. Hon. Minister @PiyushGoyal Ji isn’t against founders. He believes in us. His point was simple: India has come far, but to lead the world…we need to aim higher,” Gupta wrote on X.
Aadit Palicha, CEO of Zepto, responded to Goyal’s comments, defending India’s consumer internet startups, saying, “It is easy to criticise consumer internet startups in India, especially when you compare them to the deep technical excellence being built in US/China.”
Palicha highlighted that Zepto employs nearly 1.5 lakh people, generates over Rs 1,000 crore in taxes annually, and attracts more than a billion dollars in foreign direct investment (FDI). The company has also invested heavily in strengthening India’s supply chains, particularly for fresh produce. “If that isn’t a miracle in Indian innovation, I honestly don’t know what is,” Palicha asserted.