Union Trade and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal urged startups to be incorporated and listed in India instead of moving to tax havens. He asked them to contact the government if they had any problems and assured them that they would try to solve the problem.
Goyal was talking at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Global Unicorn Summit about shaping 1,000 unicorns in New Delhi by 2030, according to a Commerce Department announcement. He also called for further strengthening of ethical and corporate governance norms in start-ups.
The minister emphasized that tax evasion, data fraud and other illegal activities kill the entrepreneurial spirit of young start-ups and have a significant negative impact on the start-up ecosystem and need to be contained early. He called for greater transparency, better standards and benchmarks, and stronger self-regulation in the startup ecosystem. The minister called on startups to think long-term to create sustainable wealth for themselves and society.
He added that government efforts to reduce the burden of regulatory compliance have facilitated innovation, spurred the commercialization of intellectual property rights, and facilitated the formation, operation, growth and dissolution of businesses. He also emphasized the great talent living in India’s Tier 2 and 3 cities and small villages and called for a start-up revolution in this direction. He added that start-ups like Zoho are looking for programmers from rural areas and are bringing Silicon Valley to rural India.
Venture capitalists must also seek out more capital inflows, providing expertise to nurture and protect intellectual property created by young entrepreneurs and scale. He expressed his hope that India’s intellectual property would benefit the world, but demanded that India be the main beneficiary of these innovations. Goyal reiterated the Prime Minister’s “vocals for the locals” and “local to global” fanfare, saying that nothing is better than our startup in performing these two mantras.
