NCLAT Cuts CCI’s Penalty On Google In Play Store Case To INR 216 Cr

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has reportedly partly upheld the CCI’s order against Google for abusing its unfair dominant position in the appstore market.

However, the Appellate Tribunal reduced the penalty slapped on the big tech major by the CCI to INR 216 Cr from INR 936.44 Cr earlier, Bar and Bench reported.

A detailed order is awaited in the matter.

Following the verdict, Google said in a statement, “We welcome the NCLAT’s decision to set aside certain directions in the CCI’s order and substantially lower the penalty. Google is committed to supporting the growth of Indian developers and contributing to a thriving app ecosystem for both developers and users in India. We will continue to comply with all applicable laws and regulations as we review the NCLAT’s judgment and evaluate our legal options.”

The case dates back to October 2022, when the competition watchdog slapped the fine of INR 936 Cr on Google for abusing its dominant position in the appstore market via its Play Store policies.

The US-based tech major was fined for its in-app payments policy. The CCI found that Google forced app developers to use its billing system for paid apps and in-app purchases, while exempting its own apps like YouTube from such fees, which amounted to discriminatory practices.

The antitrust regulator ordered the company to “not restrict app developers from using any third party billing/payment processing services”.

It ordered Google to allow third-party billing services while ensuring transparency around fees and services. Google was told to avoid imposing “unfair, unreasonable, discriminatory, or disproportionate” conditions on app developers while giving them access to data related to their respective apps.

Besides this, the CCI asked Google to refrain from anti-steering practices like depriving app developers of promoting their apps outside the Play ecosystem.

The CCI had begun a probe into Google’s mandatory use of its Play Store payment system for paid apps and in-app purchases in November 2020.

Google’s Regulatory Troubles In India:

The CCI slapped the penalty on the big tech giant in 2022 a few days after it fined the company INR 1,337.76 Cr for abusing its dominant position in the Android devices market.

Google has been involved in court battles since then over the two fines.

The company is also under the scrutiny of the antitrust regulator in other cases. The competition watchdog has also been probing the company over alleged abuse of dominance in the news aggregator space.

Besides, Google was involved in a standoff with Indian startups last year over its bill payment system.

Google delisted hundreds of apps of Indian publishers like Bharat Matrimony, Shaadi.com, Kuku FM, Info Edge from its Play Store last year citing violations of its user choice billing system. The apps were later restored after the government’s intervention.

Following this, the CCI ordered another probe into Google’s user choice billing system.

Editor’s Note: The story has been updated to include the response shared by Google after the story was published.