Google has announced it is ready to remove non-compliant apps from the Play Store in India due to billing policy violations, after giving developers in the country over three years to prepare. This move marks a significant development in Google's efforts to enforce its policies in its largest user market, globally. According to the tech giant, ten companies in India, including several prominent names, have been identified for evading platform fees despite deriving benefits from it.
"After giving these developers more than three years to prepare, including three weeks after the Supreme Court’s order, we are taking necessary steps to ensure our policies are applied consistently across the ecosystem, as we do for any form of policy violation globally," Google wrote in a blog post on Friday.
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"Enforcement of our policy, when necessary, can include removal of non-compliant apps from Google Play. Developers are welcome to resubmit their apps to be listed on Play by electing any one of these three billing options as part of our Payments Policy," the company added.
It is pertinent to note that Google Play charges a service fee when developers sell in-app digital goods.
"Our tiered pricing programs benefit Indian developers: only 3 per cent of developers in India sell digital goods or services and therefore need to pay a service fee, the vast majority of whom pay 15 per cent or less -- the lowest of any major global app store. In fact, in India, less than 60 developers on Google Play are subject to fees above 15 per cent," the tech giant noted.
Google has said developers can resubmit their apps to be listed on Play by opting for any of the three billing options as part of the company’s payments policy:
1. One of the options is to operate on a consumption-only basis without paying a service fee, even if it is part of a paid service.
2. To integrate Google Play’s billing system to transact with millions of customers around the world and give their users safe ways to pay and the ability to manage their payments from a central location.
3. Offer an alternative billing system alongside Google Play’s for users in the country.
Several Indian firms have contested Google's Play Store billing policy in recent years, citing excessive fees for the services rendered by the tech giant. Among the prominent companies petitioning the Madras High Court are Bharat Matrimony, Unacademy, Kuku FM, Alt Digital Media, and Info Edge, a homegrown Internet technology conglomerate known for operating the job recruitment platform Naukri. Additionally, OTT platform Disney's Hotstar and dating platform Tinder have also raised objections to Google's policy in India.