Nasscom sets up council on internet, e-commerce

Nasscom, often criticised for paying more attention to the information technology (IT) services segment, has now set up a council focused on the internet and e-commerce segment. Headed by Info Edge founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani, the council has six members.

Info Edge owns several successful internet companies such as job portal naukri.com and online real estate classifieds website 99acres.com.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Nasscom business process management (BPM) summit here, Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar said, “Basically, the council is looking at the internet and mobile-based services space, including e-commerce. It includes areas such as social media and mobile-based services, too…The council will look at various issues faced by the sector, in terms of infrastructure, regulation and taxation. These issues, and many others, arise because we are trying to move into a world that is looking to take advantage of digital tools and disruptive technologies. We need to be prepared for that.”

The move to set up a separate internet and e-commerce council comes about a year after Nasscom saw the exit of several members from the software products segment. These members went on to form software product think-tank Indian Software Products Industry Roundtable or iSpirt.

Following this, Nasscom tried to make amends, setting up a product council under the chairmanship of Ravi Gururaj.

Nasscom has several councils that cater to specific segments within the IT sector and build programmes focused on each of these. These councils include the IT services council, the BPM council, the product council and the engineering services council.

While Nasscom hasn’t been able to rope in prominent e-commerce players such as Flipkart into its new internet and e-commerce council, Chandrashekhar says all major e-commerce companies are being consulted to understand the issues faced by the sector, as well as how to address those.

“We certainly had them (the large players) in the consultations we had on e-commerce. Not all of them might be on the council, but depending on the issue, consultations take place with relevant players,” he said.

National Association of Software & Service Companies (NASSCOM)