Minister Vaishnaw Vows to Prevent Delisting of Apps Over Google Fees Payment Dispute

New Delhi: Taking a strong view of Google removing some apps from its Play Store, the government on Saturday said the removal of Indian apps cannot be allowed and that the tech firm and the startups concerned have been invited to meet next week.

In an interview to PTI, IT and Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the startup ecosystem is key to India’s economy and their fate cannot be left to any big tech.

The minister’s comments come as Google on Friday began removing some apps, including a popular matrimonial app, from its Play Store in India over a service fee payment dispute, even as the apps and well-known startups cried foul.

Taking a serious view on the issue, Vaishnaw said, “India is very clear, our policy is very clear… our startups will get the protection they need.” The minister said the government will meet Google and the delisted app developers next week to resolve the dispute.

“I have already called Google… I have already called the app developers who have been delisted, we will meet them next week. This cannot be allowed..Such delisting cannot be allowed,” Vaishnaw asserted.

Stating that India has built a strong startup ecosystem with over a million startups and over 100 unicorns from nothing in ten years, the minister said the energy of youth and entrepreneurs must be fully channelized and cannot be left to politics. about any big tech.” “I tell Google… Our entrepreneurial energy… startups, look at the whole startup India program, 10 years ago we had virtually nothing and today we have over 1,00,000 startups, over 100 unicorns… this is something… energy our youth, the energy of entrepreneurs, the energy of talented people, which needs to be channeled perfectly well, it cannot be left to any big technology policy,” Vaishnaw said.

On Friday, Google said 10 companies in the country, including “many established” companies, had avoided paying fees despite benefiting from the platform and the Play Store, and moved to remove some apps.

It did not name the companies, but a search on Play Store on Android phones yielded no results for matrimonial apps such as Shaadi, Matrimony.com and Bharat Matrimony. Balaji Telefilms’ Altt (formerly ALTBalaji), audio platform Kuku FM, dating service Quack Quack, Truly Madly also disappeared from the Play Store.

The raging dispute is over Google’s 11-26 percent payment on in-app payments after anti-competition body CCI ordered scrapping of the earlier 15-30 percent payment system.

Google moved to remove non-paying apps after the Supreme Court refused to grant interim relief to the companies behind the apps in their fight against the search giant’s app marketplace fee.

While Bharat Matrimony founder Murugavel Janakiraman described the move as a “dark day” for the Indian internet, Kuku FM co-founder Vinod Kumar Meena said in a statement that Google was behaving like a “monopoly”. Quack Quack founder Ravi Mittal said the company is following the rules to get back into the market.

Google previously issued Play Store violation notices to Matrimony.com, which uses the BharatMatrimony app, and Info Edge, which uses a similar app, Jeevansathi.

Info Edge (India) Ltd on Saturday announced that its mobile apps including naukri.com, 99 acres.com and shiksha.com have been removed from the Google Play Store.

“Indian companies are complying – so far. But India needs an App Store/Play Store that is part of the digital public infrastructure – like UPI and ONDC. The response has to be strategic,” Info Edge founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani said. post on Friday on X (formerly Twitter) tagging Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and his office.

IAMAI — an industry body representing major Indian startups as well as international companies — condemned the removal of the apps and had urged Google to restore the removed apps.

In a blog post, Google had said that 10 Indian companies had decided not to pay for “the enormous value they received from Google Play” for a long time.

“For years, no court or regulator has denied Google Play’s right to charge,” it said, adding that the Supreme Court on February 9 “refused to interfere” with its right to do so.

Google argued that allowing a small group of developers to receive different treatment from the majority of developers who pay their fair share creates an uneven playing field and puts 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, Google had said 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.”

According to it, developers can resubmit their apps to Play by choosing one of three billing options as part of their 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. PTI MBI ANZ ANU