Union Ministers meet Google, app developers over Play Store delisting
Rounds of meetings: Union Ministers from the Electronics and Information Technology on March 4 held several rounds of meetings with Google and delisted startups from its Play Store.
There has been no solution as Indian companies allege Google of exploiting its dominant position in the Android ecosystem.
The startups met Union IT and Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, and the Minister of State for IT and Electronics Rajeev Chandrashekhar to raise concerns around the issue, seeking support from the government.
Google representatives held a meeting with Union Minister Vaishnaw earlier in the day to present their version, explaining the reason for their action as per sources.
Google has imposed an 11 to 26 per cent fee on in-app payments after anti-competition body CCI ordered the scrapping of an earlier system which charged developers anywhere from 15 to 30 per cent.
Google on March 1 removed the apps that were not paying up, after the Supreme Court did not provide interim relief to these companies disputing the search giant’s app marketplace fee.
While IT Minister Vaishnaw did not share details of the meeting, MoS IT Chandrasekhar held a virtual meeting with the Alliance of Digital India Foundation, a body representing Indian app developers.
“Today, startups presented their concerns regarding a few policies of Google. Assured them that MeitY will take it up with Google for a sustainable and long-term solution,” Chandrasekhar posted on X.
There has been a deep and decisive transformation in India’s startup ecosystem over the past 10 years, the Minister said.
“From fewer startups in 2014, the country has more than 1 lakh startups and 113 unicorns with the potential to add 10 lakh startups and 10,000 unicorns in the coming decade,” his post further read.
ADIF said that its members met both ministers to voice out their concerns and seek support from the government.
