Indian startups have recently approached government officials and the Competition Commission of India (CCI) with a request to urge Google, an Alphabet Inc. venture (GOOG, GOOGL), to republish their apps on the Play Store.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Information Technology, shared on social media that the startups had aired their grievances about certain policies enforced by Google. He assured them that the Ministry of Electronics and IT would discuss these issues with Google to ensure a feasible, long-term resolution.
One key concern held by these startups is Google’s seemingly arbitrary revenue share policy, which demands 15 to 30 percent of all earnings for its services. On this issue, Vinay Singhal, the founder and CEO of STAGE, said, "We pay only 0.25 percent commissions on third-party payment gateway charges. Most companies do not pay more than 2 percent, which is already on the higher side. But, Google charges a 15-30 percent share for the same service."
Despite these allegations, Google, a United States-based company, insists that only 3 percent of Indian developers who sell digital goods or services pay a fee, and less than 60 of these developers on Google Play pay fees exceeding 15 percent.
Startups also claim that Google's billing policy provides the company access to every transaction conducted in the app, including sensitive user data. Continuing his critique, Singhal remarked, "Moreover, they request audit rights on our books in our office. Essentially, they can inspect our office and audit our books at their convenience. However, supplying Google with such data without customer consent pits us directly against the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act."
Last week, Google removed apps from ten developers, including popular applications like shaadi.com, Bharat Matrimony, and 99 acres, citing an alleged failure to comply with its User Choice Billing (UCB) system. Some of these apps have been reinstated on the Play Store after complying with Google's consumption-only model, which requires the apps to conduct transactions directly through their respective websites instead of using the in-app billing system.
However, the aftermath was an immediate financial blow for many companies, with several reporting a revenue reduction of 40 percent within one day of their apps being removed. Others bemoaned their inability to engage and onboard new customers.
