Reuters claimed that Google may delete apps from ten Indian companies, including prominent matrimonial sites, due to a disagreement about service fee payments. The action may also aggravate relations with startup enterprises, it noted.
The lawsuit centers on the startups' objections to Google's imposition of a service fee ranging from 11 to 26 percent on in-app payments in India. This comes after antitrust authorities ordered Google to abolish its prior structure, which levied fees ranging from 15 to 30 percent.
Legal backing for Google
Following court decisions in January and February, Google was granted permission to enforce the charge or remove apps. This permission was heavily influenced by the Supreme Court's decision not to provide startup relief.
Google, a company of Alphabet Inc, has issued Play Store violation letters to Indian companies Matrimony.com and Info Edge. Matrimony.com, the company behind the BharatMatrimony app, and Info Edge, which runs a similar service called Jeevansathi, are presently reviewing the notices.
Companies and Market Reactions
Matrimony.com and Info Edge's shares fell 2.7% and 1.5 percent, respectively, when the news surfaced. Stocks have since recovered. At 1.35pm, Matrimony.com was at ₹545, while Info Edge was at ₹5,291.15.
Executives from both firms told Reuters that they are evaluating the notification and will decide on the next actions.
"The move means all the top matrimony services will be deleted," Murugavel Janakiraman, matrimonial.com's founder, told Reuters.
"We believe we have been compliant from February 9 on Jeevensaathi. We paid every invoice on time. We are in contact with Google and responding to the notification to confirm that we are compliant," said Sanjeev Bhikchandani, founder of InfoEdge.
Google's Perspective
Google stated in a blog post that ten Indian companies have opted not to pay for the tremendous value they obtain from Google Play. It emphasized its right to impose fees, citing the Supreme Court's February 9 judgment, which refused to interfere with that prerogative.
The probable removal of Google apps raises concerns in India's startup sector, which has been critical of the company's methods. Google, which has a 94 percent market share for phones running on its Android platform, claims that its revenues fund improvements in the app store and Android OS, maintaining free distribution and covering developer tools and analytics services.
Google added that only 3% of the more than 200,000 Indian developers on the Google Play marketplace are obliged to pay a service fee.
