India Needs More Domestic Capital to Retain Ownership of Start-Ups: Piyush Goyal

There is a need to get more domestic capital in the Indian start-up ecosystem, said Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday. He appealed to the unicorn start-ups and industry to created a pool of capital to support the upcoming start-ups in the country.

“Grow and maintain your ownership. I really feel sad when I come to know that for some Rs 25 lakh or Rs 50 lakh some bright idea of a young start-up got sold to a foreign company. Let's try and get some more domestic capital coming into this ecosystem,” Goyal said while speaking at the inaugural function of the Startup Mahakumbh.

The minister appealed to the unicorn start-ups, big private players and industry bodies such as Assocham and CII to come together and create a fund of domestic capital.

He also advised foreign investors to be benevolent towards the Indian start-ups and allow them to have a “respectable ownership of their work”.

“Even the foreign investors should be a little more benevolent, giving claw back to our founders so that they can get a respectable ownership of what they create. This will be my appeal to all investors who have been involved with the start-up ecosystem to have a bigger heart towards the start-up ecosystem,” the minister added.

Goyal also asked start-ups to focus on advanced technologies such as AI, deep tech and semiconductors while giving the example of China which has been leading such technologies.

“They (China) are investing heavily to become self reliant. (They are) building chips and AI models which will prepare the nation for the future,” he said.

He said that India has moved from the slogan of Jai Javaan, Jai Kisaan to Jai Anusandhan (innovation).

Goyal asked the Indian startups to not limit themselves with the past and be more ambitious and experimental to achieve the Viksit Bharat goal of 2047.