India’s antitrust regulator has ordered an investigation into Alphabet’s Google, alleging the U.S. tech giant abused its dominant position in the country’s online market by imposing unfair terms and discriminatory practices in its popular app store.
The Competition Commission of India said in an order on Friday that Google violated several provisions of the country’s antitrust law and asked its investigative arm to complete the probe within 60 days. The order came in response to information filed by multiple Indian app developers and industry groups, many of whom have also publicly raised concerns about what they allege is unfair practices by Google.
The allegations center around Google’s billing system for in-app purchases and paid apps on its Play Store. The regulator said Google is charging app developers an excessive and unfair service fee ranging from 10% to 30%, which appears to be disproportionate to the economic value of services provided by the company.
“The price being charged by Google appears to be unfair in itself,” the regulator said in its 21-page order. “Given this complete dependence of app developers on Google Play Store, the price being charged by Google appears to be unfair in itself.”
The commission also said Google is implementing its policies in a discriminatory manner, providing arbitrary distinctions between apps that offer digital goods and services and those that offer physical goods and services, even though they avail similar facilities on the Play Store.
The watchdog’s decision is the latest headache for Google in India, its biggest market by users but one where it has long faced allegations of anti-competitive practices. Last year, the CCI imposed a record fine of $162 million on the company for abusing its dominant position in the Android smartphone market and asked the firm to change its business model.
The U.S. giant has previously defended its Play Store policies, saying the service fee supports its investments in Android and Play Store, allowing it to provide developers with tools and a global platform to access billions of consumers around the world.
