CCI To Issue Verdict On Google Play Store Billing Policies Soon: Report

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is set to deliver its verdict on Google’s Play Store policies as the investigation moves to the final stages.

According to an ET report, CCI has been holding depositions from multiple stakeholders such as the Alliance of Digital India Federation (ADIF), Match Group and several other companies in India. CCI has also called Google’s executives for depositions as well, seeking information.

Sources cited in the report stated that a recent hearing was the last and that CCI will stick to the schedule despite Google’s attempts at postponing the verdict.

Google enforced a 30% commission for all Play Store transactions in 2020, a move that was criticised globally. In India, the move was seen as monopolistic and CCI explored the commissions’ angle and whether Google was blocking rival payment options in its billing process.

The new commission structure will come into effect from October 31 in India, while it has already come into force globally in June. CCI, therefore, is looking to publish its findings before the tech major’s commission structure comes into effect.

Other sources stated in the report mentioned that the haste in publishing the findings also comes as CCI chairman Ashok Kumar Gupta is retiring on October 25 and the competition watchdog wants to publish the report since it needs a quorum of three members to pass a verdict.

CCI did discover earlier this year that the tech giant was, in fact, blocking rival payment options in its billing process.

The development comes as last week, Google introduced the user choice billing pilot project to India and several other geographies. Under the pilot, the tech giant offered users in the said geographies the option to choose their billing between Google and others.

The announcement included all non-gaming developers, who can sign up and participate in the pilot project. The internet giant added that it will also incentivise the developers who sign up.

“For participants in this pilot, service fees, which support our investments in Play and Android, will continue to apply. Developers must pay Google the applicable service fees. When a consumer chooses to use an alternative billing system, the service fee the developer pays will be reduced by 4%,” the tech major said.

Google added, “No other major app store, whether on mobile, desktop or game consoles, has taken similar steps toward providing more payment choice and opportunities for developers, users and the entire internet ecosystem.”

India is not the only country where Google is facing intense scrutiny over its Play Store billing policies. In South Korea, the government barred it from forcing a specific payment method on a mobile content provider.