The Internet and Mobile Association of India, an influential tech industry body, has appointed Dream Sports co-founder and chief executive Harsh Jain as the new chairperson of the association, bucking the tradition of giving the top roles to Big Tech executives after receiving criticism from many Indian startups.
Rajesh Magow, co-founder and group chief executive of MakeMyTrip, will now serve as the Vice Chairman of IAMAI, whereas Times Internet’s Satyan Gajwani has been appointed as the industry body’s treasurer. Magow replaces Meta’s Shivnath Thukral for the role, whereas Jain has replaced Google India head Sanjay Gupta.
The appointments, result of an internal election, follows scores of Indian top entrepreneurs alleging that IAMAI had lost credibility with the views it submitted on regulations and policies that New Delhi has been drafting.
Shaadi.com’s Anupam Mittal alleged that IAMAI’s views — that were largely representative of Big Tech’s views — showed that the powerful lobby group had become a “mouthpiece of Big Tech.”
The recent strain is the newest indication of a fracture in the relationship between Google, Amazon, and other major U.S. corporations, and Indian companies.
“The new 24-member Governing Council and the new Executive Council of the IAMAI will take charge from the present councils at the upcoming Annual General Meeting. The IAMAI Governing Council election is held every two years. Eighty-three members of the IAMAI contested the elections this year following the end of the two-year tenure of the previous council,” IAMAI said in a statement Thursday.
More to follow.
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