After facing two back-to-back fines by the Competition Commission of India in October, Android-maker Google is indefinitely pausing the enforcement of its policy mandating Indian developers to use Play Store’s billing system for user transactions. Google announced the update in the policy on its support page and said that the requirement to use Google Play Billing System (GBPS) would continue for in-app purchases outside of India.
Google had previously extended the deadline for following GBPS in the South Asian market until October 31.“Developers in India were given an additional extension until October 31, 2022, to comply due to unique circumstances with the payments landscape in the country. Following the CCI’s recent ruling, we are pausing enforcement of the requirement for developers to use Google Play’s billing system for the purchase of digital goods and services for transactions by users in India while we review our legal options and ensure we can continue to invest in Android and Play. The requirement to use Google Play’s billing system applies for in-app digital content purchases for users outside of India,” Google said.
The anti-trust body slapped two back-to-back fines on Google of Rs 1,338 and Rs. 936 crores in October. Last week, CCI stated Google has abused its dominant position to promote its payments app and in-app payment system and ordered it to no longer restrict app developers who are listing their apps on Play Store from using third-party payment processing services.
Google also said that the company said is reviewing its legal options in the country implying that the company planning to legally challenge the CCI against the two orders that imposed penalties on the tech giant on October 20 and October 26.
Google is facing similar charges in other countries as well. South Korea has also directed Google to provide the option of alternative payment systems for Play Store developers to choose from.
