The antitrust regulator considers Google Play's fees "unfair" and disproportionate to the economic value of services provided by the company.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Friday ordered probe into Google's Users Choice Billing (UCB) system practice over Play Store policies. CCI said that prima facie, Google had violated provisions of the Competition Act.
CCI has asked the director general to complete the investigation and submit a report within 60 days.
The order came in response to complaints filed by multiple Indian app developers and industry groups, many of whom have also publicly raised concerns about what they allege are unfair practices by Google.
Google pulled more than 100 apps from a set of 10 developers in India late last month after the Indian firms “persistently not complied with its billing policies.” Google later restored the apps, but the firms will have to comply with the Play Store billing policies.
Play Store levies a 15-30 per cent fee for in-app purchases and subscriptions for those using Google's billing system. Developers who choose its third-party billing option pay a commission of 11-26 per cent, marking a reduction of 4 per cent on the service fee.
CCI believes that the fee appears to be disproportionate to the economic value of services provided by the company.
“Given this complete dependence of app developers on Google Play Store, the price being charged by Google appears to be unfair in itself,”
CCI said in its order.
The CCI imposed a record fine of $162 million on the company in 2022 for abusing its dominant position in the Android smartphone market and asked the firm to change its business model. Days later, the regulator fined Google $113 million for abusing the dominant position of its Google Play Store and ordered the firm to allow app developers to use third-party payments processing services for in-app purchases or for purchasing apps.
Sources: Business Standard, TechCrunch
