E-commerce Start-Ups Launch Indiatech.org

India’s Internet companie Flipkart and Ola are grouping together with peers including travel portal MakeMyTrip to launch an industry body that will represent the interests of local ventures and aim to create a moat against deep-pocketed global rivals, in one of the world’s most prized markets for digital commerce.

The lobby group Indiatech.org led by Sachin Bansal, co-founder of Flipkart, as founding president and chairman will appoint a former IAS officer as CEO, said four people directly aware of the development.

The formation of the lobby group signals an aggressive stance by the country’s top Internet entrepreneurs, who have been insistent in their demand for policy support.

Flipkart, Ola, MakeMyTrip, Quikr and Hike are expected to be a part of the group’s executive committee, with more companies expected to join in. The group is being set up as a non-profit and would have different layers of membership.

To that end, the entrepreneurs have invited some of the world’s biggest investors — some of whom are also their backers — such as Japan’s SoftBank, New York-based Tiger Global Management, Hong Kong-based hedge fund Steadview Capital as well as venture capital firms like Accel India and Matrix Partners India to join the group.

Apart from lobbying against overseas competition, the group’s charter also includes issues like job creation, skills training and providing resources to scale up Internet businesses.