Tech industry body Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has formed a taskforce to address concerns about Big Tech’s alleged market dominance. The task force will be led by chairperson Murugavel Janakiraman, who is the founder of Bharat Matrimony, as per multiple reports. The initiative is aimed at scrutinizing Google Play Billing System (GPBS) and intellectual property matters to begin with, eventually expanding to broader issues of Big Tech’s “abuse of dominance”.
The task force also plans to collaborate with government officials and policymakers to advocate for regulations and draft white papers to analyze Big Tech policies and their impact on Indian startups.
In May last year, founders of several Indian startups raised their voices against the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), flagging a lack of “credence” and claiming that the industry body was not representing their interests but favouring big tech.
A group of top startup founders protested against the IAMAI after it opposed a new law to combat the anti-competitive practices of big tech firms. The group had accused IAMAI of promoting views that are anti-Indian and pro-foreign big tech.
In 2022, the parliamentary standing committee on finance proposed the creation of a digital competition law and recommended classifying big tech companies as systemically important digital intermediaries based on their revenues, market capitalisation, and end users. In February 2023, the government formed the committee on digital competition law or CDCL which was tasked with examining the “need for a separate law on competition in digital markets.”
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