NEW DELHI: Days after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed a penalty on Google for abusing its dominant market position in India, the US tech giant announced pausing on plans to enforce the Google Play billing system for in-app transactions.
The company said it will review legal options and ensure it can continue to invest. Now, Google Play’s billing system will not be a compulsory requirement for Indian developers who wish to offer in-app content for purchase.
“Developers in India were given an additional extension until October 31 to comply due to unique circumstances with the payments landscape,” said Google in a statement. “Following the CCI’s ruling, we are pausing enforcement of the requirement for developers to use Google Play’s billing system for purchase of digital goods and services for transactions in India, while we review our legal options and ensure we can continue to invest in Android and Play,” said Google.
However, the requirement to use Google Play’s billing system applies for in-app digital content purchases for users outside India. CCI, India’s antitrust watchdog, has imposed two fines on Google so far: Rs 936.44 crore for abusing its dominant market position with respect to its Play Store policies and Rs 1,338 crore for abusing its dominant position in multiple categories related to the Android ecosystem.
CCI said Google’s policies require the app developers to mandatorily use Google Play’s Billing System (GPBS) not only for receiving payments for apps (and other digital products like audio, video, games) distributed/sold via Google Play Store but also for certain in-app purchases. If the app developers don’t comply with Google’s policy of using GPBS, they are not permitted to list their apps on the Play Store and thus, would lose out the vast pool of potential customers.
CCI has imposed two fines on Google so far
CCI, India’s antitrust watchdog, has imposed two fines on Google so far: `936.44 crore for abusing its dominant market position with respect to its Play Store policies and `1,338 crore for abusing its dominant position in multiple categories related to the Android ecosystem