NEW DELHI: A day after Google removed 10 Indian app developers from its Play Store over non-payment of service fees, it has started restoring some of the apps. Sources in Google told TNIE only those developers who have agreed to comply with Android’s billing options have been allowed to resubmit their apps.
As per sources, most of the app developers have opted to operate on Consumption-only basis without paying any service fee. Under the consumption-only model, any developer could allow a user of their app to access content that they paid for outside the app.
Meanwhile, the Electronics and Information Technology Ministry said the decision was made after the intervention of Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Vaishnaw convened both the American tech giant and app developers, asking them to resolve the issue. He said that this kind of delisting cannot be allowed.
“I have called Google... I have already called the app developers who have been delisted, and we will be meeting them next week. This can’t be permitted. This kind of delisting can’t be permitted,” said Vaishnaw. He said India’s policy is very clear, and its startups will receive the protection they need.
On Friday, March 1, Google announced it had delisted Shaadi, Matrimony.com, Bharat Matrimony, Altt (formerly ALTBalaji), audio platform Kuku FM, dating service Quack Quack, and others from its platform. The firm reasoned that these 10 firms had avoided paying fees despite benefiting from the platform and Play Store, and proceeded to delist some apps. However, it didn’t name the firms, and a search of Play Store on Android phones didn’t yield any results.
The dispute centers around Google imposing a fee of 11% to 26% on in-app payments after the anti-competition body CCI ordered scrapping of an earlier system of charging 15% to 30%. Google went ahead with removing the apps without paying the fee after the Supreme Court didn’t provide interim relief to the firms behind these apps in their battle against the search giant’s app marketplace fee.