Google’s Play Store policies crimp app developers: CCI tells NCLAT

New Delhi: The competition watchdog on Wednesday said Google’s levy of 10-30% service fee on payments for app purchases via its Play Store has crimped app developers’ ability to invest in producing better technology and improving service quality. The Competition Commission of India‘s (CCI’s) comment came on the concluding day of its arguments at the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) where Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, has appealed against an earlier order of the CCI.

The Play Store policy requires app developers to use the Google Play Billing System (GPBS) not only for receiving payments for buying apps and other digital products like audio, video and games, but also for certain in-app purchases.

The CCI’s counsel said imposition of GPBS takes away the choice from Play Store users as well as app developers.

Alphabet had approached NCLAT against a CCI order slapping a ₹936-crore fine on the firm in October 2022 for alleged anti-competitive practices pertaining to its Play Store policy.

While Google had introduced an alternative billing system following the CCI order, the fee charged through it remained high. The regulator is also assessing whether this so-called user choice billing system is in sync with the competition rules.

“If developers are given the choice to use other payment processors, they would be charged around 1%, and it would have left the app developers with more money to invest in producing better content and developing better technology,” the CCI counsel told the tribunal.He said the test for establishing abuse of dominance in a market is not that some entity has gone out of business due to a dominant player’s action, but whether there is a likelihood of erosion of competition due to its conduct and policies.”The test is not that ‘show me the effect’… ‘show me that some enterprise hasn’t been allowed to continue or conduct business’,” said CCI’s counsel.