‘1.5 lakh jobs, Rs 1,000 crore in taxes’: Zepto CEO hits back at Piyush Goyal's 'delivery boys, girls' remark, netizens say 'now stop looting customers'

Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal's remarks at Startup Mahakumbh 2025 in New Delhi have sparked a heated debate within India’s startup ecosystem. While comparing India’s startup landscape with China’s, Goyal questioned whether the country should aspire for more than just delivery-based businesses.

“Should we aspire to be, or are we going to be happy being delivery boys and girls?” he asked, urging startups to focus on advanced technologies like robotics, machine learning, and next-generation manufacturing.

His comments have drawn mixed reactions from entrepreneurs, including Zepto co-founder Aadit Palicha, who strongly defended consumer internet startups, arguing that they play a crucial role in innovation and economic growth.

'Easy to criticise consumer internet startups in India': Zepto CEO Aadit Palicha hits back 

Taking to his official handle on X, Palicha highlighted the impact of companies like Zepto, noting that the quick-commerce platform has created nearly 1.5 lakh jobs, contributed over Rs 1,000 crore in taxes annually, and attracted significant foreign investment.

"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," he said, adding,  "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 organizing India's backend supply chains (especially for fresh fruits and vegetables). If that isn't a miracle in Indian innovation, I honestly don't know what is."

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

Palicha also argued that large consumer internet companies have historically been the driving force behind major technological breakthroughs worldwide."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?," he noted in his post on X.

He called for stronger support from the startup ecosystem, the government, and investors to help build globally competitive internet companies in India. We need to build great local champions that generate hundreds of millions in free cash flow if we ever want to be part of major technology revolutions, he said.

Here's how netizens reacted:

The debate has triggered strong reactions online. Some users questioned Zepto’s ethics, citing concerns over opaque pricing and data privacy.

"Because you casually skipped OpenAI, anthropic, cohere, deepseek are all these consumer internet companies ?? Sir you can’t even show where the rider is on the map but you can innovate in implementing all the dark patterns goes to show your intentions towards innovation," one user noted.  

"That's a lot of words without addressing any recent major complaints around Zepto's dark patterns and unethical practices of charging customers based on their devices, spying on app lists, or rounding up the amounts. Goes on to reinforce the opinion that it's intentional," another user commented.  

"India doesn’t need to choose between deep tech and consumer internet. build both, fund both, win both," one user stated.  

"Point well taken. Now stop discriminating people across platforms and keep uniform prices. Dont loot the customers," one user advised Zepto's co-founder.  

"Zepto is not an innovation; it's simply a different format of super-fast delivery. It relies on thousands of two-wheeler delivery riders driving in the wrong direction, putting many lives at risk," another user pointed out.  

What did Piyush Goyal say at Startup Mahakumbh?

Union Minister Piyush Goyal, speaking at Startup Mahakumbh, questioned the direction of India’s startup ecosystem, urging a stronger focus on innovation and technological advancement.  

"Are we going to be happy being delivery boys and girls... Is that the destiny of India... This is not startup, this is entrepreneurship... What other side is doing -- robotics, machine learning, 3D manufacturing and next generation factories factories," he said.  

He stressed the importance of startups preparing the nation for the future. "Do we have to make ice cream or chips?" he asked. Goyal highlighted the evolving role of startups in driving India's economic and technological progress, assuring government support for entrepreneurs facing challenges. He encouraged them to persevere and try again.