IT Minister Vaishnaw to meet Google team after Indian apps removed from playstore

Google representatives have been asked by IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to come for a meeting on Monday to discuss a disagreement between the internet giant and certain Indian enterprises regarding non-compliance with billing standards. Ten Indian companies had their apps disabled by Google on Friday due to disagreements over service fee payments.

Matrimony services like Bharat Matrimony and the job search app Naukri were among the impacted apps, which escalated Indian entrepreneurs’ long-standing complaints over Google’s policies, which included in-app fee charges.

Vaishnaw expressed hope for a speedy conclusion, saying, “I hope Google would take a sensible approach. We need to safeguard the interests of our vast and expanding startup community.”

In response to an order from antitrust authorities to deconstruct the previous charge structure of 15 to 30 percent, the issue centers on attempts by Indian entrepreneurs to oppose Google’s imposition of a fee ranging from 11 to 26 percent on in-app payments. According to Google, the Play Store and Android app ecosystems are developed and promoted in part by the money it charges.

Despite two court rulings in January and February that appear to have given Google the go-ahead to impose the additional price or delete apps, Indian firms are still fighting this imposition.

The creator of Bharat Matrimony, Christian Matrimony, Muslim Matrimony, and Jodii, Matrimony.com, expressed shock over their removal from the Google Play Store.

In defense of its actions, Alphabet Inc. subsidiary Google stated that ten Indian businesses had chosen to forego paying for the “immense value they receive on Google Play” for an extended length of time.

“After giving these developers more than three years to prepare, including three weeks after the Supreme Court’s order, we are taking necessary steps to ensure our policies are applied consistently across the ecosystem, as we do for any form of policy violation globally,” Google stated in a statement.