Amid Piyush Goyal's remarks on Indian startups, here's the reality of losses of some of the 'unicorns'

India's Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal kicked up a storm last week after he urged Indian startups to move beyond consumer-centric businesses and focus on deep-tech sectors instead of “grocery delivery and ice cream making.”

Speaking at the second edition of the government-led startup conclave called the Startup Mahakumbh, the minister said, "Are we going to be happy being delivery boys and girls... Is that the destiny of India? This is not a startup, this is entrepreneurship... What the other side is doing -- robotics, machine learning, 3D manufacturing and next generation factories."

What is Indian startups' position

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With a population of approximately 1.4 billion India is the world's third-largest startup ecosystem. And though there are over 1.57 lakh government-recognised startups and more than 100 unicorns, it is yet to catch up with its rivals like China in deep-tech sectors. While China is aggressively working on sectors like semiconductors, AI, electric vehicles (EVs), and robotics, India is still caught up in food delivery and fantasy sports apps.

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Both China and India with their strong population were envisaged as centres for global startup growth. But by 2024 China left India behind with companies like Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance becoming global leaders. While most Indian startups, struggled with scale and profitability despite showing great capabilities.

Big Indian startups making losses

Some of the biggest Indian startup companies like Swiggy, Ola, Zepto and PharmEasy made significant losses in the year 2024 while chasing scale and market dominance. While losses does not every time signifies failure, it does raises questions about their potential of making money in the future.

Here we take a look at some loss making Indian startups in 2024 as per a report by Inc42 Media:

• Topping the chart is Pharmeasy, online pharmacy and a medical store company, with a loss of Rs 2,531 cr
• Second on the list is the food delivery app Swiggy with a total loss of Rs, 2350 cr
• India's ride-hailing company Ola is third on the list with a loss of Rs 1,584 cr in 2024
• With an overall loss of Rs 1,422 cr India's largest digital payment app paytm is fourth on the list
• The online grocery delivery app bigbasket is fifth on the list with a total loss of Rs 1,267 cr
• Another online grocery delivery app Zepto is sixth on the list with a loss of Rs 1,248 cr
• Indian online education platform Physics Wallah with losses of Rs 1,131 cr is seventh on the list
• The Indian electric two-wheeler manufacturer headquartered in Bengaluru is eight on the list with a loss of Rs 1,059 cr
• The online travel agency Cleartrip with a loss of Rs 810 cr is ninth on the list.
• While tenth on the list with a loss of 670 cr in 2024 is Acko, a general insurance company