Google on Friday began the process of removing from Play Store numerous Indian apps that are household names. The reason is that the apps allegedly didn't pay them a service fee that is mandatory.
As per reports, Naukri, Shaadi, Bharat Matrimony, ALT Balaji, 99 Acres, Kuku FM, among others, have been removed. The well-known dating service platform Quack Quack has also been removed. "The dispute is over Google imposing a fee of 11 percent to 26 percent on in-app payments after anti-competition body CCI ordered the scrapping of an earlier system of charging 15 percent to 30 percent," reported TNIE.
Experts opine that India must develop an indigenous platform so that global tech giants don't resort to such practices. However, there is a contrarian view in place. There are no free lunches. Even Indian platforms, some or the other day, will charge the owners of Apps a certain platform fee. If fee is not paid, the Indian platform would be justified to remove those Apps. The companies that have now been removed from Play Store have reportedly been served notices before. They didn't heed to those notices and have now faced action.
