Google Stands By Its Decision to Remove Apps From Play Store in India

On Friday, Google Play Store began removing the apps of ten companies in India, including prominent marriage apps such as Bharat marriage and job search tool Naukri, due to a dispute over service fee payments in one of the company’s fastest-growing countries.

Indian companies have long been challenging many of the US giant’s policies, notably its in-app fee levies. Google claims that its payments support the development and promotion of the Android and Play Store app ecosystems.

India’s Matrimony.com matchmaking applications Bharat Matrimony, Christian Matrimony, Muslim Matrimony, and Jodii App were withdrawn from Google Play on Friday, according to the company’s creator, Murugavel Janakiraman.

He described it as a bad day for India’s internet. “We are deleting our apps one by one. “It literally means that all of the top matrimony services will be removed,” he explained.

Matrimonial applications and websites are gaining popularity in India as younger people reject conventional matchmaking by parents. According to Janakiraman, more than 50 million people have downloaded Matrimony.com’s Bharat Matrimony app. The company claims it has over 40 million customers.

On Friday, Google, an Alphabet Inc affiliate, filed letters to Matrimony.com and Info Edge for Play Store breaches.

According to Google Play Store listings, Info Edge’s job search tool Naukri and real estate search firm 99acres were both removed.

Matrimony.com shares plummeted as much as 2.7% at first but recovered 2.2% on Friday, while Info Edge lost 1.5% before reducing losses.

The disagreement revolves around efforts by some Indian firms to prevent Google from imposing an 11 percent to 26 percent tax on in-app payments, following an order from the country’s antitrust authorities to demolish a former system charging 15 percent to 30 percent.

However, Google effectively won permission to collect the fee or remove apps following two court decisions in January and February, one of which was by the Supreme Court.

Earlier on Friday, Info Edge founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani told Reuters that the company had paid all due Google invoices on time and was in compliance with its regulations.

In a blog post, Google stated that ten Indian companies had decided to forego paying for the “immense value they receive on Google Play” for a prolonged period. It did not identify the companies.

“For years, no court or regulator has denied Google Play Store’s right to charge,” according to the corporation.

According to Google, enabling some developers “to get differential treatment from the vast majority of developers who are paying their fair share creates an uneven playing field”.

Google controls the Indian market, with 94% of phones running on its Android platform.

Google noted that only 3% of the more than 200,000 Indian developers who use the Google Play platform are obliged to pay a service fee.

In 2020, Google momentarily disabled the famous Indian payments app Paytm from its Play Store due to policy violations. The company’s creator and the larger startup industry banded together to oppose Google, building their own app marketplaces and bringing legal cases.