Mr Minister, India Has Zoho and Mappls – Despite the Government, Not Because of It
Dear Ashwini Vaishnaw Ji, Minister of Electronics and IT, you are often spoken of as a decent man, someone who sincerely wants India to shine in the digital age. But truth must be told. Your ministry, along with the Prime Minister’s Office, loves to hold up Zoho and Mappls as shining jewels of Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Yet, let’s not mistake exceptions for the rule. These companies are not proof of your policies — they are proof that Indian entrepreneurs can survive despite them.
Take Start-up India. It was launched with much fanfare — speeches, hashtags, promises of tax holidays and compliance relief. In reality, it turned into a bureaucratic circus. GST reliefs came years too late, by which time countless start-ups had already been throttled. Compliance portals crashed more often than they worked, and inspectors treated start-ups like suspects rather than innovators. The government celebrated “Ease of Doing Business” rankings abroad, but in India it felt more like an “Ease of Doing Paperwork” contest.
Infrastructure tells its own comedy. Bengaluru, India’s supposed Silicon Valley, drowns with every heavy rain. Internet outside the metros makes one nostalgic for dial-up. Power cuts are routine, and every founder knows the real MVP of their start-up isn’t their CTO — it’s the inverter battery. Digital India? More like Dongle India.
Then there’s funding. The Funds of Funds announced with great drama trickle slower than a government file moving between desks. Banks still treat start-ups like unwanted relatives, and foreign venture capital keeps our ecosystem alive. China pumps billions into creating domestic champions. India? We take selfies with two companies and call it policy success.
And, of course, we must mention Piyush Goyal. The minister who thought mocking the gig economy was his mic-drop moment. He ridiculed Ola drivers and Swiggy delivery boys — the same people who kept India running during the pandemic when the state machinery was missing. Meanwhile, what has he built? Any ecosystem for AI? Semiconductors? Cloud computing? Nothing. But he still finds time to belittle workers and start-ups alike. If arrogance were a start-up sector, perhaps he would be India’s first decacorn.
So yes, Ashwini Ji, India has Zoho and Mappls. But they are not your medals — they are your mirror. They represent entrepreneurs who fought through red tape, poor infrastructure, and indifferent policy. For every Zoho that survived, there are thousands of start-ups silently strangled.
And the punchline? Aatmanirbhar Bharat today is like a cricket team that brags about two centuries while hiding the nine ducks on the scoreboard. If reforms were real, India would have had dozens of Zohos and Mappls. Instead, we have slogans, selfies, and speeches.
Dear Minister, Indian entrepreneurs don’t want hashtags or ribbon-cuttings. They just want the government to get out of the way. Until then, Zoho and Mappls will remain the rare exceptions, and Start-up India will be remembered less as a revolution and more like an LIC policy — all paperwork, no payout.
