Google India's public policy head resigns: Report

Archana Gulati, Head of Public Policy at Google India, has resigned just five months after taking up the position, according to a report.

While the Google India executive put down her papers on Monday, the reasons for her resignation were not clear, Reuters reported.

Archana led a team of public policy executives who looked into the various regulatory implications of Google in India. She was previously a central government employee who worked as joint secretary for digital communications at NITI Aayog. Prior to this, she worked with the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

This development comes at a time when Google is waiting for the outcome of at least two antitrust cases in the country. One of the key cases against Google is its in-app payment system on the Play Store, which has come under criticism from the developers.

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Under the present system, any developer who wants to put an app requiring payment purchase on the Play Store will have to use Google’s billing system for in-app purchases from its set of users, which they have termed as being very high.

However, Google recently introduced the user choice billing system as a pilot project, allowing certain apps on the Play Store to offer an alternative billing system along with its own in-app billing framework. However, this facility is open only for non-gaming apps.

This has been a very contentious issue and developers have sought the intervention of the government.

At the same time, the CCI is also looking into the business conduct of Google in the Smart TV market in reference to its Android operating system.