83 IAMAI members contest for 24 Governing Council seats amid accusations of pro-Big Tech bias

Industry body IAMAI represents many Indian companies including foreign Big Tech companies

Industry body Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) on May 15 announced that 83 of its members will be contesting the election for the 24-member IAMAI Governing Council. This comes at a time when IAMAI has been accused of "parroting" the views of Big Tech companies, with its current chairperson an employee of Google and vice-chairperson of Meta.

In a statement, IAMAI said that the nominees from the top three firms, based on the votes received in this election, would assume the positions of chairperson, vice chairperson, and treasurer of the association, forming its executive council.

Outgoing executive council members include Google's country head and vice president Sanjay Gupta as chairman, Meta's director and head of India public policy Shivnath Thukral as vice chairperson, and Razorpay CEO and co-founder Harshil Mathur as treasurer. Shubho Ray serves as president ex-officio on the executive council.

Ray told Moneycontrol that the elections process has already begun. The results of the election will be declared at the end of May 2023, and the new Governing Council will take over after the Annual General Meeting in June 2023.

The release by IAMAI said that apart from the exception of a few companies which are less than two years old, almost all 500-plus members of IAMAI, are eligible to contest as well as vote in the elections. "At present 65% of the membership of IAMAI is comprised of Indian companies," the release said.

Recently the industry body was accused of "parroting" views of Big Tech, particularly in relation to a draft submission prepared by IAMAI on whether the country needs a separate law for tackling Big Tech firms' anti-competitive practices.

IAMAI, whose members include the Indian arm of Big Tech firms such as Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Meta, and others, argued against the need for a separate Digital Competition Law, claiming that it would harm startups, increase regulatory costs, and so on.

However, a few companies and personalities from the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem disagreed with IAMAI's position, claiming that they support such a law and that Big Tech companies influenced the industry body's opposition.

Such startups called for changes to be made in IAMAI's structure, and few were even exploring the option of joining other rival lobby bodies.

Recently, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar told Moneycontrol that the government will not allow Big Tech companies to "corner or grab policy", and Indian startups will be given the same importance when it comes to policymaking.

Commenting on the election process, Ray said, “IAMAI has a very transparent and regular process of elections to the extent that we do not allow solicitation and post-election if any member has any concern the results can be duly audited.”