India to take action against Google for antitrust breach: MoS IT

MoS IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has announced that the government is planning to take action against Alphabet Inc’s Google for indulging in anti-competitive practices by abusing its market position. This was reported last year by an antitrust watchdog, reported Reuters.  

Govt to take action against Google  

Google was fined $275 million in two cases in one of which the company was involved in abusing its dominant position in the Android operating system market and in another, it was accused of compelling developers to use an in-app payment system.

In an interview with Reuters, the MoS IT Minister stated that these findings are serious and cause deep concern to India’s federal government. As per his statement, “The ministry has to take action. We have thought through it. You will see it in the coming weeks. Certainly, it's not something that we will leave and push under the carpet."

Also Read: Google CEO Sundar Pichai admits to using iPhones, Samsung phones

The minister declined to reveal or hint at what kind of regulatory action is the government planning to take against Google. The minister added that the issue “is worrisome, not just for us, its worrisome for the entire digital ecosystem in India.”

Chandrasekhar clarified that the government has not discussed this with Google as of now. He stated, “There is no need for any discussion. There is a finding of a court.”

The Competition Commission of India’s findings of Google’s anti-competitive conduct in the Android market is found to be correct. However, the case of the payments is still under appeal in India.  

In addition to these two charges, the Indian watchdog is also scrutinising Google after Tinder’s parent company Match Group along with several other startups alleged that a new service fee system, used by Google for in-app payments, breaches the competition’s October decision.    

"Google's policy change of a charging service fee even on transactions processed by third-party payment processors ... has detrimental consequences for users and app developers," the 15-page confidential March complaint by ADIF said.

Also Read: 

Tesla 'serious' on establishing India production, innovation base, says IT minister

‘Over my dead body’: Twitter CEO Elon Musk refuses to pay office rent, says report

OnePlus Nord 3 launch timeline, specs, India pricing leaked online