India's Union Minister Piyush Goyal sparked debate online after his remark on country's startup ecosystem. He compared the developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) sector in China to India's startup scenario where youth is "delivering food to the rich people". 

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Speaking at the Startup Maha Kumbh on Thursday (April 3), Goyal said, "I have a lot of nice things I can talk to you but I want to put up a slide which a friend sent me three days ago." 

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"It disturbed me a lot," he said.

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"What are India's startups doing today. We're focused on food delivery apps, turning unemployed youth into cheap labour so that rich can get their meals without moving out of their houses. And against that, what Chinese startups are doing? ... developing electric mobility, battery technologies," Goyal was seen reading from the slide. 

"We're very proud of what India has done. But are we the best in the world yet? Not yet! Should we aspire to be? Or are we going to happy being delivery boys and girls? " Goyal asked. 

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"We use the terms like 'healthy', 'gluten free' and I don't know what else and call ourselves startups. It's not startup. It's entrepreneurship. It's business," he said. 

"Meanwhile, others (countries) creating their own artificial intelligence. Their investigating heavily to become self-reliant. Building chips, AI modal, which will prepare the nation for the future. What India has to do? Do we have to make ice cream or chips?" Goyal said. 

The minister further dragged Indian businessman and investor Aman Gupta. "And this is for the investors as well. Aman Gupta, change your perspectives in Shar Tank," Goyal said. 

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Reactions from startup founders 

Goyal's remarks drew multiple reactions from known faces. 

Mohandas Pai, former CFO of Infosys and a prominent investor, said the comparison with China was unfair and unhelpful.

"These are bad comparisons. India has startups in all those areas too but they are small. Minister @PiyushGoyal should not belittle our startups but ask himself what has he done as our Minister to help deep tech start ups grow in India?” Pai wrote on the social media platform X.

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“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. The reality is this: there are almost 1.5 lakh real people who are earning livelihoods on Zepto today,” Zepto founder Aadit Palicha said.