Google adheres to the CCI regarding Play Store Payments Policy
Google said on Wednesday that its Google Play payments policy is in compliance with the CCI antitrust order and that it is moving forward with its plans to enforce the policy in the country.
“In 2020, we clarified the requirements for our payments policy, and developers in India have had plenty of time to make the necessary changes to their apps,” she said in a blog post. “We are respectfully following the October 2022 CCI order, and in compliance with this order, we have extended user choice billing to all developers in India and updated our policy which came into effect from 26th April 2023.” Google said that as the April 26 deadline passes, it will take “necessary steps” to get developers to implement one of the billing options it offers.
Three paths are available for app developers – using Google Play billing system, an alternative billing system called user choice billing system along with Google Play billing system for users in India and works on consumption basis only without paying service fee, even if. Part of a paid service.
Google said it continued to “comply with local laws and cooperate with local procedures, as appropriate.” She said the service fee implementation is “a reasonable model as the platform only makes money when one of the developers makes money, so our success is in line with their success”.
It said the service fee it charges from developers allows it to finance the significant investments it has made for the growth of the app ecosystem in India. The company insisted that its fees — 15 percent less for most developers — are the lowest of any major app store and a 4 percent reduction in those fees for those implementing an alternative billing system “reflects in some measure that Google Play’s billing system has not been used.”
Currently fewer than 60 of the more than 2,00,000 Indian developers on Google Play can pay a service fee of more than 15 percent, Google said, citing its own estimates.
The Competition Commission of India in October fined Google and directed the Android maker to give developers the option to use third-party billing systems in the country.
“Most developers globally have already chosen one of these paths. In India, now that the deadline has passed, we are informing developers in the country who have not yet implemented one of these choices that we will take the necessary steps to ensure that our policy is applied fairly. We continue to comply with local laws and cooperate with local actions, as appropriate.”