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Zepto’s CEO and co-founder Aadit Palicha took to X to share his opinion. He claimed that Zepto, a company barely 3.5 years old, has already created 1.5 lakh jobs and contributes over Rs 1,000 crores in taxes annually.
Piyush Goyal had said that Indian start-ups were turning unemployed youth into cheap labour. (Photo Credits: X)
Nobody wants to be reduced to a job title. Especially not when you’ve built something from scratch, hustled through chaos and managed to create real impact. So, when Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal asked, “Should we aspire to be, or are we going to be happy being delivery boys and girls?” – it struck a nerve across India’s startup world.
The comment, made during his address at Startup Mahakumbh 2025 in New Delhi, wasn’t exactly subtle. He was comparing India’s startup ecosystem to China’s and questioning our aspirations. Naturally, it triggered all kinds of reactions.
One of the most powerful responses came from Zepto’s CEO and co-founder Aadit Palicha. He took to X (formerly Twitter) to share his opinions. Zepto, a company barely 3.5 years old, has, according to him, already created 1.5 lakh jobs and contributes over Rs 1,000 crores in taxes annually.
“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. Using our example, the reality is this: there are almost 1.5 Lakh real people who are earning livelihoods on Zepto today – a company that did not exist 3.5 years ago. Rs 1,000+ Crores of tax contribution to the government per year, over a billion dollars of FDI brought into the country and hundreds of crores invested in organising India’s backend supply chains (especially for fresh fruits and vegetables),” Palicha wrote.
He also said that it is a case study of what Indian startups are capable of. And then he turned the conversation towards something bigger: innovation. If this progress isn’t a miracle in Indian innovation then he “doesn’t know what is,” he further wrote.
“Why doesn’t India have its own large-scale foundational AI model? It’s because we still haven’t built great internet companies. Most technology-led innovation over the past 2 decades has originated from consumer internet companies. Who scaled cloud computing? Amazon (originally a consumer internet company). Who are the big players in AI today? Facebook, Google, Alibaba, Tencent etc. (all started as consumer internet companies). Consumer internet companies drive this innovation because they have the best data, talent, and capital to put behind it. We need to build great local champions in internet that are generating hundreds of millions of dollars in FCF first if we ever want to get a piece of great technology revolutions. The startup ecosystem, the government, and the owners of large pools of Indian capital need to actively support the creation of these local champions, not pull down the teams that are trying hard to get there,” he added.
In short, Palicha doesn’t think Indian startups should be dismissed because they deliver food or essentials. In fact, he sees that kind of infrastructure as a foundation for greater tech breakthroughs.
Palicha confessed that Zepto is not yet a “great Internet company,” but it is trying hard to become one.
He added that he is dedicating the next few decades of his life to creating “dynamism in the Indian economy.” He concluded his post by saying that India has both talent and capital, but it needs “execution.”
Take a look at his post below:
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. Using our example, the reality is this: there are almost 1.5 Lakh real people who are earning livelihoods on Zepto today – a…— Aadit Palicha (@aadit_palicha) April 3, 2025
Now, back to Goyal’s full speech. The minister didn’t stop with the “delivery boys and girls” line. He doubled down on what he sees as a worrying pattern.
“What are India’s startups of today? We are focused on food delivery apps, turning unemployed youth into cheap labour so the rich can get their meals without moving out of their house. We are very proud of what India has done, but are we the best in the world as yet? Not yet,” Goyal reportedly said in his speech.
What’s your take? Is India selling itself short—or just getting started?
- Location :
Delhi, India, India
