Google Delisting Row: Startup Founders Meet Ministers, Seek Action Against The Tech Giant

Amid the ongoing controversy over delisting of apps by Google, the founders of Indian startups met central ministers on Monday (March 4) to pitch their case and seek the government’s intervention. 

Multiple Indian founders told Inc42 they separately met IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Minister of State (MoS) for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

The virtual meeting with the MoS was attended by Bharat Matrimony’s Murugavel Janakiraman, Snehil Khanor of Truly Madly, QuackQuack’s Ravi Mittal, Vinay Singhal of STAGE, representatives of think tank ADIF, among others. 

In a post on X, Chandrasekhar said that the startups presented their concerns regarding the delisting of apps. He said the ministry will take up the matter with Google for a “sustainable and long-term solution”.

“…  The government will continue to work towards a level playing field for big and small firms alike while creating an ecosystem that will catalyze growth for startups. Today, startups presented their concerns regarding a few policies of  @google. Assured them that  @GoI_MeitY will take it up with Google for a sustainable and long-term solution,” said Chandrasekhar.

Speaking with Inc42, a cofounder told Inc42 that the stakeholders apprised the MoS of the impact of the delisting of the apps on the ecosystem, including “employment, further innovation, and tax collection”. 

Three different cofounders told Inc42 that while the ministers steered clear of any commitment, they told the startups that they will look into maintaining at least a status quo till the Competition Commission of India (CCI) passes its judgement on the matter.

The startup founders also urged the ministers to revamp the competition laws and voiced concerns about Google’s alleged discriminatory pricing, arbitrary revenue share, and abuse of market dominance.

Delisting To Hit Bottom Lines Of Startups

“We met honourable MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar and union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and appraised them about our situation. They patiently heard us. We told them about the impact Google’s delisting had on our businesses and how Google’s billing policies are arbitrary and discriminatory,” said Truly Madly’s Khanor.

Khanor also told Inc42 that the startups apprised the ministers about the detrimental impact that Google’s user choice billing system would have on India’s digital ecosystem and tax revenue.

“Many profit making companies who were paying income tax towards nation building will suddenly become loss making and may go out of business, hurting thousands of employees, because of the move to delist apps. We have requested the government to direct Google to reverse its decision and restore the status quo before delisting while the CCI & government take cognisance of the matter,” added Khanor. 

The development comes just days after Google began delisting apps from the Play Store for not complying with the tech major’s user choice billing policy. About 10 startups were impacted by the move, including Bharat Matrimony’s 150 apps, Truly Madly, STAGE, Kuku FM, and QuackQuack. 

While some of the flagship apps of the startups have been “reinstated” on the Play Store, founders of some of the impacted startups told Inc42 that Google is trying to create a “narrative” that apps have been restored on the app marketplace. 

“In reality, most of the apps that have been restored have made their way back to the Play Store after opting for the consumption model. These apps still have not signed up for the UCB and are looking at heavy impact on revenues as users, under the consumption model, cannot directly buy subscriptions from Play Store-downloaded apps,” rued a founder. 

For the uninitiated, under the consumption-only or reader model, products or services cannot be purchased from within the app. Essentially, a user will be able to log in to the app but will have to access content paid for somewhere else.

One of the founders told the ministers that the delisting of apps from the Play Store was costing 25,000 downloads a day while another stakeholder pegged the number at 40,000 for his startup. 

The founders also anticipate a short-term impact on the bottom lines of their startups due to the delisting. 

The bone of contention is the tech major’s new user choice billing system, which was introduced after the CCI’s landmark 2022 verdict. The competition watchdog had imposed a fine of INR 936 Cr on Google for abusing market dominance with regards to its Play Store policies and had asked the tech major to make sweeping reforms to its India operations. 

However, startup founders say the new system charges exorbitant commissions in the range of 11-26% (the previous regime entailed 15-30%) and has extensive paperwork involved in embedding third-party payment gateways. 

Indian startups have also challenged the new policy before multiple courts, including the Supreme Court and the Madras and Delhi High Courts (HCs). But the courts have either put the onus on the CCI or are yet to take a call on the matter. 

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