Flipkart co-founder and executive Sachin Bansal is planning to create a lobby group focussed on consumer Internet startups. The aim is to form a trade association to solely fight for local companies such as Flipkart and Ola, with the government for favourable laws.
He is reportedly in talks with several Indian entrepreneurs and influential investors to work towards the interests of these startups.
As of now, he has approached Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal, Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl, Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma, IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India) chairman Kunal Shah, Hike’s Kavin Bharti Mittal, and Quikr’s Pranay Chulet to be part of the group.
However, no one has yet confirmed to join the group. As cited by one of three LiveMint sources, “The discussions are in early stages and it is still not clear what the agenda behind the alliance is. Sachin has been thinking about this lobby group for over a year now.”
Also, Sachin had discussions with Nandan Nilekani (co-founder and former CEO of Infosys Ltd and ex-chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India) and iSpirt, a software products think tank, on the concerned matter.
With recent events like Flipkart valuation slash downs, Government’s interference in cab aggregators pricing policies, etc., there has been seen a rise in demand for a China-like environment in the country. As per analysts, local startups believe that they should be given preferential treatment against foreign startups, even though they themselves are heavily backed by foreign investors.
