India Edtech Consortium (IEC), an edtech-focussed lobby group under the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).
Physicswallah cofounder Prateek Maheshwari has replaced Kumar, who stepped down as co-chair of the edtech body early September, according to an emailed announcement sent to some other members of the forum.
Maheshwari confirmed the development to ET. So did Kumar, but did not share further details.
IEC has Byju’s cofounder Divya Gokulnath as its chair, who did not respond to ET’s request for comment on the change immediately. She had taken over the post from Kumar, who was earlier the chair, in April 2023.
Kumar had sent across an email, a copy of which ET reviewed, to other members on September 12, saying that a recent scaling-up of Upgrad has forced him to spend more time with the company. Due to this, he could not allocate the time and attention that the chair role demands.
The development was first reported by online news website Moneycontrol. IEC includes edtech companies such as Byju's, Simplilearn, Unacademy, Upgrad, Vedantu and others. It was created to ensure that learners have access to quality and affordable education, in January 2022.
In 2022, after her appointment, Gokulnath had said in a statement, “We are completely aligned with the government's principles on safeguarding consumer interests and welcome the creation of guidelines