IAMAI reserves leadership, 50% of governing council seats for Indian companies

In May, Indian entrepreneurs voted out Big Tech members from the industry body as it sought to wrest control of policy-making in the fast-evolving and growing technology sector

A few months after Big Tech representatives were voted out of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the influential industry body representing top tech companies passed a resolution mandating that 50 percent of its governing council members will be from Indian companies.

These decisions were taken in the extraordinary general meeting (AGM) of the trade body held on October 10, multiple sources confirmed.

By reserving 50 percent of governing council for Indian firms, IAMAI intends to ensure a balanced governing council every year. "The rest of the seats would be open to all types of members entitled to contest elections," the resolution document said.

Members of the body's governing council also passed a resolution agreeing to the proposal of reserving the top 3 positions in IAMAI -- the executive council, which includes the chairperson, vice chairperson, and treasurer --  for Indian companies.

Additionally, IAMAI agreed on the resolution that its governing council members should be founders, co-founders, chairman, country heads, CEOs, executive directors, and COOs of their companies.

Moneycontrol has reached out to IAMAI with further queries in this regard, and the article will be updated when a response is received.

Currently, Dream11's Harsh Jain is the IAMAI chairperson, MakeMyTrip’s Rajesh Magow is the vice chairperson, and Times Internet’s Satyan Gajwani its Treasurer.

In May, Indian entrepreneurs voted out Big Tech members from the industry body as it sought to wrest control of policy-making in the fast-evolving and growing technology and startup sector.

Also read: All you need to know about the tussle at IAMAI on Big Tech, competition law, and elections

The change in guard at IAMAI came after worries that the industry body and Indian internet organisations were parroting the demands of Big Tech companies. A particular bone of contention was IAMAI's stance on the need for a digital competition law and its alleged inaction in dealing with Google's Play Store and billing policies.

Update: The previous version of the article mentioned that IAMAI took these decisions during their annual general meeting. It has been changed to reflect that the meeting was an EGM or extraordinary general meeting.