Hitting out at Union minister Piyush Goyal’s remarks, former Telangana industry and IT minister K T Rama Rao on Friday said Indian start ups have done well despite the obstacles posed by antiquated laws of the country, its tariffs and regulations.
In a subtle criticism directed against the minister, Rao said the government should not comment on who is building what kind of apps but instead resolve the pending issues.
Advertisement
Rao, popularly known as KTR criticised the minister after Goyal took a dig at the Indian StartUps, saying children of billionaires make fancy brands of cookies or ice creams and calling them StartUps. He batted for disruptive innovation, pointing out that India, being the third largest when it comes to StartUp ecosystem, needs to focus on deep-tech, manufacturing, and large-scale innovation.
Taking to his ‘X’ handle, KTR said, “The commerce minister’s comments aren’t something I agree with. Indian StartUps have been very disruptive and innovative.” He then went on to point out that Indian StartUps ranged between spacetech, fintech, and robotics and not merely repackaging, as Goyal suggested. “
“We have a wide range of start-ups, ranging from spacetech to fintech to robotics and many others that have done well, despite all the hurdles imposed by our antiquated laws, tariffs and regulations. Our country’s policies make it very difficult for our startups to compete and dream big on the world stage.”
Taking a dig at the Commerce minister’s harsh criticism, Rao said, “The government’s job is not to comment on who does WhatsApp but to resolve pending issues and make things simpler so they can thrive.”
As IT and industry minister, KTR had adopted policies to promote StartUps in Telangana in a big way, including setting up T-Hub, an incubator for StartUps where entrepreneurs with disruptive concepts were encouraged to transform them into reality.
