NEW DELHI: The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in a major setback to Google on Wednesday upheld the CCI's (Competition Commission of India) order imposing a fine of Rs 1337.76 crore for abusing the dominant position of its Android system in India. Now, the American tech giant will have to pay the fine in the next 30 days. The Appellate Tribunal also found that the investigation conducted by CCI into Google's conduct was not in violation of the principles of natural justice.
Appearing on behalf of Google, advocate Arun Kathpalia argued that CCI's order suffers from confirmation bias and is based on a similar order of the European Commission (EC) in 2018. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) N Venkataraman presented the CCI's case before the NCLAT, stating that Google abused its dominant position in the Android market to indulge in unfair trade practices by restricting entry of other applications in its Play Store.
In October 2022, the competition watchdog imposed a fine of Rs 1,337.76 crore on Google for anti-competitive practices in relation to Android mobile devices. Then, Google on January 6 approached the NCLAT, which refused to stay the CCI's order and directed it to deposit 10% of the penalty amount. Then, it filed a plea in Supreme Court for a stay on CCI's order.
The NCLAT bench comprising Chairperson Justice Ashok Bhushan and Member Alok Shrivastava also made some modifications to the CCI order and gave partial relief to Alphabet Inc's Google.
It set aside four of the CCI directives in the case related to Google's abuse of its dominant position in Android which included a directive that pre-installation of the entire Google Mobile Services (GMS) on Android phones does amount to unfair use. Also, the company will now not need to allow the hosting of third-party app stores inside the Play Store.
The tribunal body directed the company not to deny access to its play services Application Programming Interface (APIs) to disadvantage Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), app developers and its existing or potential competitors. Also, the company won't restrict uninstalling of its pre-installed apps by the users. It will not restrict the ability of app developers in any manner to distribute their apps through side-loading.
Google, on 25 January 2023, informed CCI that it would comply with their directives. It changed its Android policy for Indian users which includes allowing original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to licence individual Google apps for preinstallation on their devices. Indian users will now have the option to choose their default search engine and user choice billing will be available to all apps and games starting next month.