Amid Competition From Ola Maps, Google Slashes Prices For Maps APIs For Indian Developers

A week after Ola founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal rolled out one-year free access to Ola Maps for all developers, competitor and tech major Google said it will reduce the prices of its Google Maps platform for developers in India. 

The tech major made the announcement at its developer event, Google I/O Connect Bengaluru, on July 17. 

Google said that its maps platform will be available for Indian developers at up to 70% lower cost compared to “most APIs” starting August 1. On top of that, the company has also introduced India-specific pricing and will start accepting payments for Google Maps subscription in Indian rupees as against US dollars currently. 

“For developers using Google Maps Platform, we’re introducing India specific pricing that is up to 70% lower on most APIs to make it even easier to build location based solutions,” the tech major said in a blog. 

Google said that the new pricing structure will only be available to India-based customers that clock a majority of their usage in the country and are billed in India. As per Google Maps dashboard, the company will “monitor eligibility” and may disqualify customers from the reduced pricing slab for not meeting these thresholds. 

Developers can use the same billing account for Google Maps platform and Google Cloud usage, the tech major informed its users. Additionally, the tech giant will also reduce the “pay-as-you-go rates” while increasing the number of monthly requests available in each pricing tier.

For context, Google’s Geocoding API, which is currently priced at $5.00 per 1,000 requests for the initial 1 Lakh monthly requests, will now be listed at $1.50 per 1,000 requests for the initial 5 Lakh monthly requests for Indian customers from August 1. 

During the event, the tech major also announced a collaboration with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to offer developers, building apps on the state-backed network, a discount of up to 90% on select Google Maps platform APIs.

According to a Moneycontrol report, the discounted pricing will be available for small businesses across all four roles on the ONDC – seller, buyer, technology service provider, and gateway. 

A Google FAQ page noted that the reduced prices will only be available for one year and can be availed between August 1, 2024 and April 1, 2027.

At the same event, the big tech major also announced a collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics and IT’s (MeitY) Startup Hub to upskill 10,000 homegrown startups in artificial intelligence (AI).

Meanwhile, Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal, in a post on X, termed the move to slash the prices for Google Maps “too little too late”.

“Dear @Google, too little too late! Reducing prices for  @googlemaps, “offering to price in ₹” after #ExitGoogleMaps. Don’t need your fake generosity! Tomorrow, I’ll be writing a blog response and announcing major updates on Ola maps @Krutrim,” said Aggarwal. 

The comments came a week after Aggarwal urged Indian developers to stop using Google Maps and announced one-year free access to all developers to Ola Maps on AI-driven Krutrim platform. He also offered over INR 100 Cr in free credits to developers.

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