Praveen Chakravarty in this Indian Express article writes that "You, us and Mark Zuckerberg have something in common — we are all joint investors in a venture-capital fund, albeit indirectly. The prime minister is expected to announce a “start-up policy” today in the form of a Start-up and Entrepreneurship Bill, which, among other things, will use taxpayer funds to spur investments in start-ups. The government of India had announced an “India Aspiration Fund” in August 2015. Essentially, this meant investing Rs 2,000 crore of taxpayer money in venture-capital funds that will then be used to invest in various start-ups. Venture-capital funds are well acknowledged to be on the extreme “high risk-high reward” payoff matrix...
When there is no apparent dearth of private money for such “aspirational India” initiatives, why should a government that still has to feed, clothe, educate and skill a vast majority of its citizens fritter away scant tax resources on such risky investments?"