Google Pulls Popular Indian Apps From Store Over Fees Violation

An anonymous reader shares a report: Google pulled more than a dozen popular Indian apps including recruitment platform Naukri, matrimony service Shaadi, audio storytelling platforms Kuku FM and Stage and real-estate manager 99acres from Play Store on Friday after warning that it will be taking actions against developers who have persistently not complied with its billing policies, escalating a three-year dispute in what is the company's largest market by users. Google said that 10 companies in the country, including "many well-established" names it did not disclose, had avoided paying fees despite benefiting from the platform.

The Android-maker, owned by Alphabet, said a small group of developers in India had more than three years to prepare and comply with Play Store's payments policy but opted against it. These firms continue to comply with payment policies of other app stores, Google said. Some Android apps of matrimony platforms Shaadi, Matrimony.com and Bharat Matrimony were pulled from the Play Store Friday. Info Edge's Naukri and 99acres, audio storytelling apps Kuku FM and Stage, Alt Balaji's Altt, dating service Quack Quack were also axed from the store.

Murugavel Janakiraman, chief executive of Bharat Matrimony, said Google had pulled about 10 of the Indian firm's apps from the store. Bharat Matrimony is evaluating legal options, he told TechCrunch, adding that he believes Google has violated an Indian antitrust watchdog's order in its removal of the apps today. It's a "dark day for the India internet," he added. Lal Chand Bisu, co-founder and chief executive of Kuku FM lambasted at Google, saying the Android-maker had turned "the most evil" partner to do business with and the Indian startup ecosystem was "completely" in its control.

Fees optional

[Dan East]

Our company has some business presence in India, and we have found that it is part of the standard business ethics / practice to basically try to get away with whatever you can. Fees, expenses, agreements, etc, are never perceived to be set in stone. Whatever one can get by with is considered acceptable and moral from a business standpoint, and when "caught" breaking the terms of the agreement it is expected there is no harm / no foul and they simply will pay up since they must.

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[Iamthecheese]

So "evaluating legal options" violates even this Indian code of ethics, right? Since the companies have now been caught. Or is it just jungle rule and you get what you get? Do Indian courts not enforce contracts?

Re: Fees optional

[Frank Burly]

This is the case in America too, but the landscape is different, so the "what can I get away with" calculation is different.

We are accustomed to companies adding random fees to monthly bills, shipping counterfeit goods, and picking their workers' pockets. When I notice it, I think "shitty company" and probably use them again if they are the cheapest.

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[bigbang137]

That's hilarious because it is Google and Apple that are getting away with whatever they can. There is no good reason why they should receive any cut.

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[Targon]

Let's see, even though Android allows people to install apps from outside of the Google Play store with ZERO fee for that, those who actually put their apps on the store shouldn't have to pay? Sorry, but that doesn't make ANY sense. If you have a billboard up on the side of the road and you agree to pay to put your advertisement up on it, well, if you stop paying the fee, the billboard owner does have the right to take the advertisement down, don't they? Being on an app store of any kind does call fo

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[bigbang137]

Do tell... do the roadside billboards require a cut of the revenue? Hell no.

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[penguinoid]

India’s antitrust watchdog has hit Google with a $113 million fine 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, the second such penalty on the Android-maker in just as many weeks in its largest market by users.

The Competition Commission of India, which opened the probe into Google in late 2020, said mandating developers to use Google’s own billing system for paid apps and in-app purchases through Play Store “constitutes an imposition of unfair condition” and thus violates provisions of the nation’s Section 4(2)(a)(i) of the Act.

Google seems to be going with "laws optional".

Re:Soon in the news

[Targon]

Indian companies trying not to pay losing access to the store isn't a violation of any laws, or do you mean that people should get a SERVICE for free, because they don't want to pay the store owner?

Re: java company

[PPH]

I seem to recall having checked the "Disable Advertising" box. What went wrong?

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[dunkelfalke]

Obviously a small group of developers in India had more than three years to prepare and comply with the "disable advertising" policy but opted against it

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[war4peace]

Hi, Kumar, please intimate on the same and do the needful.

looks more like a sunny day to me?

[v1]

It's a "dark day for the India internet,

... when big companies start getting forced to pay for services they've been stealing for years.

yeah, truly dark. Companies being held accountable for the kind of behavior that they otherwise tend to send armies of lawyers out to protect themselves from.

Over in India, enforcement is especially lax, and companies are used to getting away with all kinds of things. They're just plain not used to having to follow the law.

cry me a river.

Use various other app stores

[bigbang137]

The Indian government would be right to just ban the Google and Apple app stores altogether. People can then use other app stores that don't require a cut of the fees.

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[Targon]

You don't like that without going through a store that is run by another company, the app developer would have to support the process of how to download and install the app by hand? Yea, I'm not going to start a business on "Main Street" where I'm expected to pay the lease every month if I'm not prepared to actually pay that lease. Don't feel sorry for the landlord if they get tenants who set up shop in that store and then refuse to pay the lease, and then expect the law to support them staying in a pl

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[Pizza]

So, pray tell, how will these "other app stores" pay their own bills, if they're not charging some fees?

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[Plumpaquatsch]

Easy, they add malware to all apps.