Sachin Bansal, Bhavish Aggarwal say India needs more capital, not foreign companies; play nationalism card

Startup entrepreneurs want the Indian government to design policies that favour homegrown companies, playing the nationalism card.

Speaking at the Carnegie India Global Technology Summit in Bengaluru, Flipkart's Sachin Bansal, Bhavish Aggarwal of Ola, etc said more push was required to promote Indian enterprises.

"What we need to do is what China did (15 years ago) and tell the world we need your capital, but we don't need your companies,” said Bansal.
"What's happening in both our industries (is that) there is a narrative of innovation that non-Indian companies espouse but the real fight is on capital, not innovation. The markets are being distorted by capital,” said Aggarwal.

The entrepreneurs say capital inflow is quite important now and the foreign companies are burning cash in a price war.

As per both of them, more American companies in India will impact job creation in India.

Flipkart and Ola are important in determining investor sentiment for Indian startups as the two companies have raised a combined $4.4 billion, and their valuation will likely take a further hit if they lose their top standings.

Sharad Sharma, cofounder of software products think-tank iSpirt, said, “India's implicit policy is that it is a level playing field, but the actual practice is not that and is tilted towards the MNCs. Government needs to put mechanisms in place to create a true level playing field.”

"The crux of what makes a company Indian is the entrepreneur and the management team, and where they are based,” said Aggarwal, adding “There is a glass ceiling for the Indian startups. If I want to meet the PM it won't be as easy as a foreign guy coming to India. I understand that dynamic and we need to make sure government sees us as major contributors to society, which is not fully there.”

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