Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday (28 April) urged the startups to incorporate and list in India and not move to tax havens.

He asked them to approach the government if they face any issues and assured that it would strive to resolve problems.

Goyal was addressing the ‘Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)- Global Unicorn Summit- Shaping 1,000 Unicorns by 2030’ in New Delhi, a Commerce Ministry release said.

He also called for further strengthening of ethics and corporate governance norms in startups.

The minister stressed that instances of fudging revenues, data fraud, tax evasions and other malpractices have to be curbed at an early stage or it would kill the entrepreneurial spirit of young startups and have a very damaging effects to the startup ecosystem.

He called for more transparency and the setting up of better standards and benchmarks and more self-regulation in the starup ecosystem.

The minister asked startups to think in long-term to create sustainable wealth for themselves and society.

Observing that India is home to 95 unicorns, Goyal quipped that we needed just one more sixer to hit a Century of Unicorns.

Government’s efforts to reduce regulatory compliance burden has encouraged innovation and promoted commercialisation of IPR and made it easier to begin, operate, grow and exit businesses, he added.

He also highlighted the tremendous talent that lay in Tier 2, 3 cities and smaller villages of India and asked that startup revolution be taken in that direction.

Startups like Zoho recruit coders from rural areas thus bringing Silicon Valley to rural India, he added.

Expressing his desire that startups must incorporate in India and list in India and not move to tax havens, Goyal urged them to approach the government if they face any issues and assured that it would strive to resolve problems, the ministry said.

The minister said that Venture Capitalists must also promote and protect Intellectual Property created by young entrepreneurs, provide expertise to scale-up and explore greater capital infusion.

He expressed hope that Indian Intellectual Property would benefit the world but asked that India be the primary beneficiary of these innovations.

Reiterating the Prime Minister’s clarion called of ‘vocal for local’, and ‘local to global’, Goyal said that there could be nobody better than our startups to realize both these mantras.