NEW DELHI|BENGALURU: The US FCC’s decision to let Internet service providers charge for faster connections may not majorly affect businesses in India, thanks to the government’s strong stand, but it is likely to put Indian startups at a disadvantage in the US, according to some entrepreneurs.Last week the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), led by chairman Ajit Pai , voted to overturn Obama-era regulations on net neutrality , which were aimed at giving equal treatment to all data on the internet. In contrast, the Indian telecom regulator has backed an open Internet.San Francisco-based Rahul Jain, whose Appurify was acquired by Google in 2014 and now powers Google Test Labs, told ET that the coming year will reveal the impact of this decision. "Without net neutrality protection, most startups —whether they are based in the US or not—will have a major disadvantage over larger established players," the India-born Jain said.The most obvious issue is advantage over up-and-comers, as they will have the resources, stability and industry pull to best position themselves in a battle over access to bandwidth, he said.The FCC has said it will vote soon to make its decision official. Experts say that if the plan goes through, it will allow moneyed internet service providers like Verizon, AT&T and Comcast to give preference to some sites and mobile applications in return for a fee, or to their own business interests. Internet firms with deep pockets such as Google and Facebook may benefit through tieups with the ISPs, while startups, including Indian ones, may struggle, the experts said. Nikhil Pahwa , cofounder of savetheinternet.in campaign for net neutrality, said entrepreneurs prefer an environment which has greater freedom (like in the US), therefore, the investment is likely to move out of Silicon Valley. "It will become more difficult for Indian startups to serve users in the US because it probably won’t be worth the effort to go and do separate deals with each ISP there for preferential treatment," said Pahwa, founder of Medianama The FCC’s decision has upset Americans too. Many Democrat officeholders are planning for a bill that would bring back the earlier regulations, while others are contemplating a legal suit to stop the reversal. Many companies, such as Google and Facebook, are considering legal action through industry associations. Gautam Sinha , CEO of Times Internet , India’s largest digital products company, said startups whose business models allow them to operate across multiple geographies are likely to increase their focus on countries with net neutrality regulations like India. "A changing environment could have an impact on the Indian ecosystem. Net neutrality hasn’t been fully enforceable, even in India, as some companies have found a way around it by providing free data via bundling," he said.There are several Indian companies which have started expanding to the US — music streaming apps such as Saavn and Gaana, for instance. According to a 2016 study by the US-based think tank National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP), immigrants have started more than half of the US startups valued at $1 billion or more, and are key members of either management or product development teams in more than 70% of these companies. Of these, people of Indian origin have founded almost 30% of the companies.Mishi Choudhary, president at Software Freedom Law Centre , said the arguments offered by the US FCC for this "most-unfree" form of "free market internet", have no empirical or historical support. "It’s an unfortunate move for US-based netizens," she said.(Disclaimer: Times Internet is the publisher of EconomicTimes.com)