Google Has Agreed To Restore All Delisted Apps: IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

Google has agreed to reinstate all the apps which were delisted from its app marketplace Play Store, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Tuesday (March 5). The move is likely to bring a temporary halt to the ongoing feud between the tech giant and Indian startups.

“Google and startup companies, both have met with us. We have had very constructive discussions and finally, Google has agreed to list all the apps as on the status which was there on Friday morning (March 1), that status will be restored,” Vaishnaw told news agency ANI.

The minister also expressed hope that the tech giant and the Indian startups would find a long-term solution in the coming months.

“Google has been supporting our technology development journey and we believe that in the coming months, both startup companies and Google will come to a long-term resolution,” he added. 

Meanwhile, Google said that it was temporarily reinstating the impacted apps in the “spirit of cooperation”.

“In the spirit of cooperation, we are temporarily reinstating the apps of the developers with appeals pending in the Supreme Court. Google maintains its right to implement and enforce its business model, as established in various courts… We look forward to a collaborative effort to find solutions that respect the needs of all parties,” a Google spokesperson said.

The big tech giant, however, added that it will invoice its “full applicable services fees” for the startups in the interim. Google also said that it will extend payment timelines for the impacted startups.

The developments came a day after Indian startup founders met Vaishnaw and minister of state for electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar in separate meetings and sought action against Google.

While the founders made their case before the authorities, Shaadi.com founder and CEO Anupam Mittal said that the ministers directed the startups to create a forum with representatives from both sides.

“A 120-day period has been agreed upon to come to a solution that is non-monopolistic & reflects market realities,” Mittal said.

The row began after Google removed hundreds of apps of Indian publishers like Bharat Matrimony, Shaadi.com, Kuku FM, Info Edge from Play Store. While some apps were reinstated on the Play Store within a day, founders of some of the impacted startups told Inc42 that Google was trying to create a “narrative” that apps were restored on the app marketplace. But the apps were relisted only after they opted for the consumption model under the tech giant’s user choice billing system, the founders added.

At the heart of the issue is the new billing system, which was introduced after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) slapped a penalty of INR 936 Cr on Google for abusing market dominance with regards to its Play Store policies and directed it to make sweeping changes to its operations in the country.

Indian startups claim that Google charges exorbitant commission under the new billing system and it requires extensive paperwork for embedding third-party payment gateways. 

Amid all these, the Alliance for Digital India Foundation (ADIF), a think tank for Indian startups, wrote to the CCI a few days ago, saying Google’s removal of apps was a “brazen move” and urged it to ask the company to reverse its decision.

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