IAMAI ‘urges’ Google not to remove apps from Play store; reveals 4 members received notices

The IAMAI industry body cautioned Google against removing any apps from Google Play, following the company’s announcement that apps not adhering to Play store billing policies will be delisted.

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) confirmed that at least four of its members have received notices from Google.

IAMAI urged Google not to remove apps from Google Play.

“The affected members of IAMAI are of the view that the case is pending before the Supreme Court of India and Google should not take any coercive action while the case is pending,” IAMAI said.

Google said on Friday that many companies, including established ones, continue to violate its billing norms and choose not to pay the Play Store service fee applicable to the sale of in-app digital goods, and warned that it will not hesitate to take necessary enforcement actions, including removing such non-compliant apps from Google Play.

With some well-known Indian startups debating Google Play’s billing practices and the newly launched Indus Appstore, a challenger to the Made-in-India app market, Google argued in a blog post that it allows a small group of developers to get different treatment from big companies. Most developers paying their fair share create an uneven playing field and put all other apps and games at a competitive disadvantage.

“After giving these developers more than three years to prepare, including three weeks after the Supreme Court’s order, we are taking the necessary steps to ensure that our policies are applied consistently across the ecosystem, as we do for all policy violations worldwide,” Google said in a blog post.

It went on to say that enforcement of the policy could include removing non-compliant apps from Google Play, if necessary. However, Google added that existing users can continue to use the apps without interruption and that it “will continue to offer our support to help developers comply.”

Google said developers can resubmit their apps to Play by choosing one of three billing options as part of its payment policy.

“Today, we have over 2,00,000 Indian developers using Google Play who follow our policies, which helps us ensure a secure platform. However, over a long period of time, 10 companies, many of them established, have chosen not to pay for the huge value they get on Google Play by securing temporary protection from the court,” Google said.