The Competition Commission of India (CCI) recently made a decision about Google’s charging of service fees to app developers. They rejected a request to stop Google from charging these fees temporarily.
This means Google can continue charging fees while the investigation goes on. The CCI also said that the investigation by the Director General (DG) will keep going as planned.
The CCI explained that they didn’t see enough reason to stop Google from charging these fees temporarily. They want the investigation to proceed without any influence. The CCI acknowledged concerns about Google’s fee system but also noted the costs of running app stores.
Google argued that if they couldn’t charge fees, they’d essentially have to provide their Playstore service for free in India. The CCI mentioned that no other authority had granted similar relief despite requests.
The request to stop Google from charging fees was made by some companies including People Interactive India and Mebigo Labs Pvt Ltd.
These companies felt that Google’s fees were unfair to smaller businesses. However, the CCI emphasized the importance of ensuring fairness in the app store market while avoiding unintended consequences.
Last week, the CCI began investigating Google’s Play Store billing policy. This decision came after complaints from Indian startups about Google’s service fees.
The CCI noted that Google’s fees could limit the growth of the app market by reducing resources available to developers. The main dispute is over the 11-26 percent service fee that Google charges select developers for in-app purchases.