Aditya Kalra
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Google’s (NASDAQ:) decision to remove some apps in India from its app store “cannot be allowed”, Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Saturday, amid an ongoing row over service charges in the United States. solid.
Google on Friday removed many Indian apps from its Play Store, including Matrimony.com’s popular Bharat Matrimony app and job search app Naukri, saying the companies were not following in-app payment policies.
Vaishnow said he has held discussions with Google and will meet with startups seeking protection in India.
“This cannot be allowed. This kind of delisting cannot be tolerated,” he said in a statement.
Google declined to comment.
The removal drew criticism from many startups, which for years have protested and legally challenged many of the US giant’s practices, including fees for using apps. Google says the fees help grow and promote the Android and Play Store ecosystem.
The dispute centers on efforts by some Indian startups to stop Google from charging 11-26% fees on in-app payments after the country’s antitrust regulators ordered the company not to enforce its previous 15-30% charging system.
But Google actually got the go-ahead to charge or remove the apps after two court decisions in January and February, one of which was decided by the Supreme Court.
Google said Friday that some Indian companies have decided not to pay for the “tremendous value they get from Google Play.”
Among the sites most affected by the removals is Matrimony.com, which had more than 150 applications removed from the Play Store.
“All our apps have been removed and we have left the Play Store, which means we are out of business,” founder Murugavel Janakiraman told Reuters on Saturday. “If this continues for a long time, we will have a significant drop in revenue.”
Info Edge, another company affected, removed its job search app Naukri and another property search app. Many of the company’s apps have been restored, its founder said on X on Saturday, without going into detail.
In 2020, Google briefly removed popular Indian payment app Paytm from its Play Store, citing some policy violations. The move led to the company’s founder and the startup industry coming together to challenge Google by opening their own app stores and filing lawsuits.