More than 80 members to contest internet body IAMAI’s governing council election

IAMAI has more than 500 members comprising Indian digital startups like Dream11, Paytm, Unacademy, Byju’s and BharatPe, in addition to Big Tech firms such as Google, Meta, Twitter and Microsoft, among others.

The nominees of the top three firms, in terms of votes received in this election, would become the chairperson, vice chairperson and treasurer of the association, and form its executive council, the industry body said.

All members of IAMAI, with the exception of a few companies which are less than two years old, are eligible to contest as well as vote in the elections, it said.

Elections are conducted every two years at IAMAI and the terms of both the governing council and the executive council are two years.

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.

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At present, 65% of the membership of IAMAI comprises Indian companies, it said. This comes at a time when a section of startups recently alleged that IAMAI is opposing the government’s move to institute a separate and ex-ante competition framework at the behest of Big Tech firms. ET had reported this development on April 30.

IAMAI’s executive council is currently chaired by Google India country head and vice president Sanjay Gupta, with WhatsApp India public policy director Shivnath Thukral being the vice chairman. Razorpay cofounder and chief executive Harshil Mathur is the body’s treasurer.

A report published by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance had proposed a separate regulation that will provide an ex-ante regulatory mechanism, which refers to identifying certain issues and intervening before causing anti-competitive practices, in digital markets, particularly with the focus on Big Tech.

Also read: IAMAI must reflect Indian voices or be given no credence: MapmyIndia’s Rohan Verma

ET reported on May 2 that Indian entrepreneurs are up in arms against what they term as a lack of “credence” in IAMAI, and are demanding a change in the leadership of the apex body.

Bharat Matrimony’s Murugavel Janakiraman, MapmyIndia’s Rohan Verma and Shaadi.com’s Anupam Mittal are among the entrepreneurs who demanded a “change”.

On May 2, IAMAI president Subho Ray wrote in an email to the members that an “overwhelming majority” of members of the internet body was opposed to a separate competition law for digital companies as well as to ex-ante regulations.