Google’s Many Battles With Indian Startups, Regulators

Google’s Many Battles With Indian Startups, Regulators

SUMMARY

Be it the new IT amendments or the proposed Digital Competition Act, Google seems to be the mired in regulatory hurdles and legal challenges

Indian startups have dragged Google to courts on multiple occasions, largely on account of its contentious user choice billing system

From being called the ‘Digital East India Company’ to a ‘threat’ to Indian startups, Google is witnessing a growing tide of resistance from local founders and homegrown tech companies

At the fag end of 2022, Google CEO Sundar Pichai landed in India for the big tech major’s flagship event, Google For India summit. During his December visit, he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and even shared a stage with IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.In the past few weeks, Indian startups, including the likes of Matrimony, Shaadi and MapmyIndia have publicly questioned and taken potshots at Google.CCI also slammed Google for mandating its payment system and sought reforms allowing developers to use third-party payment systems.In a spate of public statements, Indian startup founders such as Matrimony CEO Murugavel Janakiraman termed Google a threat to Indian startups while Shaadi CEO Anupam Mittal likened the tech major to ‘Digital East India Company’ for charging Lagaan from Indian developers. In addition, a Parliamentary panel’s report on big tech directly took potshots at Google and called for institutional reforms to reign in such players. While India presents a massive opportunity for Google, the regulatory and legal troubles have chipped off some sheen from the Indian markets. While India would continue to remain its focus, Google refuses to catch a breath, moving from dousing one fire to another. 

The trip had come at a time when Google got pulled up by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for abusing its dominance in the Android devices market and its Play Store policies.

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