CCI penalises Google with Rs 1,338 Cr for unfair practices of Android licensing
The Indian competition watchdog said that Google was found to be abusing its dominant position in multiple markets related to Android OS for smartphones in India.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed a fine of Rs 1,337.76 crore on for anti-competitive practices with respect to licensing of its Android Operating System (OS) and proprietary mobile applications such as Play Store, Google Search, Google Chrome, YouTube, and others.
The CCI has given Google 30 days to provide the requisite financial details and supporting documents.
The competition watchdog said that in its assessment that it found Google to be dominant in the Indian market for licensable OS for smartphones, app store for Android smartphone OS, general web search services, non-OS specific mobile browsers, and online video hosting platform. The penalty was imposed for violating Section 4 of the Competition Act.
“In relation to computation of penalty, the Commission noted that there were glaring inconsistencies and wide disclaimers in presenting various revenue data points by Google,” said a statement issued by the CCI.
It further added, “However, in the interest of justice and with an intent of ensuring necessary market correction at the earliest, the Commission quantified the provisional monetary penalties on the basis of the data presented by Google.”
CCI has also issued “cease and desist order” against Google from indulging in anti-competitive practices that have been found in contravention of the provisions of Section 4. CCI has said that Google will have to implement measures including not forcing smartphone manufacturers to pre-install a bouquet of Google’s proprietary apps, ensuring interoperability of apps between Android OS in compliance with compatibility requirements of Google and Android Forks, among other measures.
The findings of CCI come three years after it ordered an investigation into allegations of Google’s dominance in the Android smartphone market in April, 2019.
In a separate investigation, CCI has also been looking at Google’s Play Store billing policies which discourages payment through other UPI apps and takes a 30% commission from app developers to publish their app on the Play Store.
Edited by Kanishk Singh