Amazon India Head Takes Over As New IAMAI Chairman

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has announced the appointment of its team today which will be headed by Amazon India head Amit Agarwal.

IAMAI said that Amit Agarwal, senior vice-president, Amazon, and country manager, India, will take over the office duties of chairman from Rajan Anandan, ex-country head of Google India.

In a media statement, Agarwal said, “We will continue to offer evidence-based insights to not only trust as thought leaders in the emerging areas of tomorrow but also in the debate today. The association remains committed, therefore, to bring forward non-partisan leading reports that include multiple perspectives to help lay the road map for achieving the 1 trillion dollars digital economy along with job creation, improving livelihood and contribution to the overall GDP of the country.”

Other new appointees in the IAMAI council include Dhruv Shringi, cofounder and CEO, Yatra as the new vice chairman of IAMAI. He is taking over from Deep Kalra, founder and Group CEO of MakeMyTrip.

Also, Satyan Gajwani, vice chairman of Times Internet has been elected as the new treasurer of the association. Subho Ray continues to be the president of the association. The tenure of the new council is for two years.

The appointment of the new-age technology players in the IAMAI council comes at a time when Mary Meeker’s 2019 Internet Trends Report showcased that India has 12% of the world’s 3.8 Bn internet users. Today, India has the second highest internet population of over 460 Mn internet users.

IAMAI had predicted that India’s internet users are expected to register double-digit growth to reach 627 Mn in 2019, driven by rapid internet growth in rural areas.

Another synergy between Amazon and Indian internet comes as a recent Trust Research Advisory (TRA) report revealed that among trusted brands in India, ecommerce giant Amazon is the leader.

Further, the use of internet is also at the cusp of larger growth as government as well as private players such as Google explore offerings of free public WiFi. The growth has also come in because of Reliance Jio and its free voice and data offers.

2019 Mary Meeker report also noted Reliance Jio as one of the most innovative internet companies based outside the US. The report has focussed on the company’s efforts in expanding offline or hybrid access to ecommerce.