Ecommerce startups launch industry body Indiatech.org

India’s most valued Internet companies — Flipkart and Ola — are grouping together with peers including travel portal MakeMyTrip to launch an industry body that will represent the interests of local ecommerceventures, and aim to create a moat against deep-pocketed global rivals.

The lobby group, which has been christened Indiatech.org, will be led by Sachin Bansal, co-founder of Flipkart, as founding president and chairman, and will appoint a former Indian Administrative Service officer as Chief Executive Officer. The former bureaucrat is expected to join in 2-3 weeks.

The other founding members include online classifieds player Quikr and messaging application Hike.

The group is positioned to become the Nasscom for the startup space, sources said.

As an industry body, the association would be involved in conveying to the government the growing significance of home-grown companies, and how they should dominate the local Internet market, they added.

Global investment groups including the likes of Japan’s SoftBank, New York-based Tiger Global Management, Hong Kong-based hedge fund Steadview Capital, Accel India and Matrix Partners India have been invited to join the group.