Info Edge, Shaadi, BharatMatrimony, MapMyIndia, Limeroad stage ghar wapsi to IAMAI to contest elections

Established in 2004, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) is a industry body representing the digital services industry with over 500 Indian and multinational corporations as its members

Domestic tech companies like Info Edge, Shaadi, BharatMatrimony, Limeroad and MapMyIndia made a return to the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) before the ongoing governing council elections at the tech lobby group, founders and senior executives of the companies who are contesting the elections said.

"We had left being a member a few years back... After all this fracas of last month. In the last week, I was asked by many senior industry entrepreneurs and leaders for MapMyIndia to become a member and apply for the governing council, so that we can change the IAMAI's direction towards a better India... Joined as a member and nominated, for this reason," said MapMyIndia chief executive officer Rohan Verma.

This comes at a time when the industry body has been accused of "parroting" views of Big Tech companies. These allegations specifically pertain to the IAMAI's views on the need for a separate law to regulate "anti-competitive practices" by Big Tech companies. To the frustration of the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem, the industry body has opposed it.

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"There are times when one sits back and lets the tide flow. And then there are times when one must lean forward and steer. This is one such time when leaders of Indian-grown companies must step in, and ensure that they are guiding the formulation of policies and outcomes - ultimately our goal is to create an environment that enables startups/companies to flourish and scale in India," said Limeroad founder and CEO Suchi Mukherjee

Many Indian entrepreneurs insinuated that IAMAI's position on the matter was directly related to the composition of the industry body's leadership, which included members of Big Tech companies such as Google and Meta. Such Indian companies asked for a change in IAMAI's structure.

"We cofounded IAMAI so it only makes sense to influence the direction it’s taking... ‘vocal for local’, ‘anti-monoploistic’ and anti-digital-colonialism... we don’t want another East India Company now or ever," said Shaadi.com founder Anupam Mittal.

Meanwhile, employees of foreign tech bigwigs like Meta, Amazon, Google, and Netflix are contesting the governing council elections.

Shivnath Thukral, Head of Public Policy, Facebook India; Ambika Khurana, director, Netflix India; Sandeep Ghosh, Country manager of Visa in India; Manish Tiwary, Country manager of Amazon's India consumer business; Mihir Rale, Chief Regional Counsel of Disney Star; Bikram Bedi, Google India, Anubhav Gupta, Senior Vice President of Mastercard and Amanpreet Bajaj, GM of Airbnb India are the candidates in the elections from India arms of major foreign tech and media companies.

It is important to note that Facebook India's Thukral is also a member of the outgoing executive council. Thukral served as the vice-chairperson.

Apart from representatives of large foreign companies, well-known Indian entrepreneurs such as Verma, and Murugavel Janakiraman, the founder of BharatMatrimony, who has recently been critical of IAMAI, have also thrown their hat into the ring.

Other contestants include Info Edge chief financial officer Chintan Thakkar, Dream11 founder Harsh Jain, Razorpay founder Harshil Mathur, Innov8 founder Ritesh Malik, Info Edge CFO Chintan Thakkar, IndMoney founder Ashish Kashyap, Paytm senior vice president Rajendra Nalam, Cred senior executive Miten Sampat and Nazara founder Nitish Mittersain are some of the representatives of Indian tech firms who are contesting the elections.

"These elections have never been so important as this time due to the politicisation. IAMAI is not so heavyweight of a lobby group as yet like CII or Nasscom," said a person close to the developments.

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.

Apart from a few companies that are less than two years old, almost all 500-plus members of IAMAI are eligible to contest as well as vote in the elections. Currently, 65 percent of IAMAI's membership comprises Indian companies.

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.