Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Commerce & Industry and Railways, has claimed that India could have as many as 50,000 registered startups by 2024. He added that the fast emerging Indian startup ecosystem is defining the country’s identity.
“I truly believe that this is one ecosystem that is defining India across the world. There are 21,000 startups already registered with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade and the speed at which we are growing, my own sense is, we will be able to touch 50,000 by 2024,” Goyal said.
He cited that the IT industry, which has often said it had been able to grow because there was no need to seek government help.
The government, he said, will listen to the issues faced by the industry and introduce measures to push growth.
“We urge you to engage with the government, not to make us interventionists but to help us find solutions to the problems of the nation; come to us with your ideas that we can use in government functioning to make our job better, to help us perform better in the service of the people of India and let us work in partnership to resolve problems,” Goyal said.
“As each one of you grows, it gives us immense pride to see our youngsters — the young 20-somethings, 30-somethings — come up with fantastic ideas. When we see an Oyo have more rooms in China than in India today, I tell you it swells our heart with pride, he added.
Goyal, on 24 August, offered to mediate into the ongoing row between the restaurants and the food delivery startups. He also said that he was closely observing the #LogOut campaign, which was started by restaurateurs in order to express their disbelief in the food delivery aggregators.