A group of 15 startup founders held a virtual meeting with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Saturday to apprise the regulator about Google’s anti-competitive policies in India, two founders aware of the meeting said.
The discussion involved Google’s recent imposition of its Play Store billing system on Indian developers, as well as the 30% commission the company charges for selling digital goods and services through the system, they said on the condition of anonymity.
The founders said that phones with Google’s Android operating system (OS) are preloaded with the Play Store app distribution platform, giving it an inherent advantage over rivals.
Because of its dominance in app discovery and distribution, Google forces Indian developers to build and change apps based on its OS and app store, they alleged, adding that the company’s “arbitrary policies” illustrate this behaviour.
“With more than 95% of India’s digital population accessing the Internet through Google, this strategy of having an OS and Play Store, together gives Google an advantage over other app stores and operating systems. Hence, we have requested them to look into this matter,” said one of the founders present at the meeting.
The founders are now planning to send a written communication to both the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) as well as the CCI, this week after collating views from the industry. The startup ecosystem will send a single letter to both the government and CCI, the founder said.
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