Google's removal of apps from Play Store in India 'cannot be permitted' - minister

Info Edge (India)

02/03/2024 12:23

By Aditya Kalra
       NEW DELHI, March 2 (Reuters) - Google's decision to
remove some apps in India from its app store "cannot be
permitted", Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw
said on Saturday, amid an ongoing dispute over service fee
payments to the U.S. firm.
    Google on Friday removed from its Play Store many Indian
apps, including Matrimony.com's  MATI.NS  popular Bharat
Matrimony and job search app Naukri, saying the companies were
not abiding by its in-app payment guidelines.
    Vaishnaw said he has held talks with Google and will meet
the startups, which needed protection in India.
    "This cannot be permitted. This kind of de-listing cannot be
permitted," he said in a statement.
    Google declined to comment.
    The removal has sparked criticism from many startups who
have for years protested and legally challenged many of the U.S.
giant's practices, including its in-app fee. Google says the 
fees help develop and promote the Android and Play Store
ecosystem.
    The dispute centers on efforts by some Indian startups to
stop Google from imposing a fee of 11%-26% on in-app payments,
after the country's antitrust authorities ordered it to not
mandatorily enforce an earlier system of charging 15%-30%.
    But Google effectively received the go-ahead to charge the
fee or remove apps after two court decisions in January and
February, one by the Supreme Court. 
    Google said on Friday that some Indian companies had chosen
not to pay for the "immense value they receive on Google Play". 
    Among the worst hit by the removals is Matrimony.com which
has seen more than 150 of its apps dropped from the Play Store. 
    "All our apps have been removed and we are out of Play Store
and (that) means out of business," founder Murugavel Janakiraman
told Reuters on Saturday. "If this continuous for a long term
then we will have significant drop in revenue."
    Info Edge, another affected company, had seen its job search
app Naukri and another real estate search app, removed. Many of
the company's app had been restored, its founder said on
Saturday on X, without elaborating. 
    Google briefly removed popular Indian payments app Paytm
from its Play Store in 2020 citing some policy violations. The
move led to the company's founder and the wider startup industry
joining together to challenge Google by launching their own app
stores and filing legal cases.

 (Additional reporting by Dhwani Pandya; Editing by Mike
Harrison)
 ((dhwani.p@thomsonreuters.com;))