Startups cry foul as Google yanks apps off Play Store
Google removed 10 popular Indian apps, including Bharat Matrimony and Shaadi.com
On Friday, Google removed 10 popular Indian apps, including Bharat Matrimony, Shaadi.com, and Kuku FM, from its Play Store, and warned several others about possible actions for consistently failing to comply with its billing policies.
The move is expected to escalate the three-year legal tussle between Indian startups and the tech giant over the Play Store policies.
Despite protests from startups about Google’s sudden app suspensions, legal experts said the firm’s policy stance could bolster their case in the upcoming Supreme Court hearing.
“Our apps were taken off the Play Store on Friday morning along with a notice and a blog post detailing Google’s policy on Play Store payments. There were no prior intimations on this matter, and we are going to look for legal recourses against Google both for the long-term and short-term,” said Murugavel Janakiram, founder and chief executive, Bharat Matrimony, which had multiple apps with over 5 million net downloads on the Android applications marketplace.
While several apps by Bharat Matrimony, which could be downloaded from the Google Play Store until Friday noon, are now inactive in India, others like People Group’s Shaadi.com apps received Google’s notice but were not suspended. Info Edge’s matrimonial platform Jeevansathi, property search platform 99acres and job search platform Naukri were also suspended from Play Store.
Sanjeev Bhikchandani, founder and executive vice-chairman, Info Edge, said the notice took the company by surprise. “To our mind, we have been compliant since 9 February on Jeevansathi.
We have paid all invoices on time. We’re in touch with Google, and replying to the notice saying that we are compliant.”
“For an extended period of time, 10 companies, including many well-established
THERE were no prior intimations, said Murugavel Janakiram of Bharat Matrimony
SEVERAL apps by Bharat Matrimony are now inactive in India
ones, have chosen to not pay for the immense value they receive on Google Play by securing interim protections from court. These developers comply with payment policies of other app stores. No court or regulator has denied Google Play’s right to charge for the value and services we provide,”
Google said in a statement.
“On 9 February, the Supreme Court also refused to interfere with our right to do so…After giving these developers more than three years to prepare, including three weeks after the
Supreme Court’s order, we are taking necessary steps,” Google added.
“While we always try to work with developers to help them through our policies and find feasible solutions, allowing this small group of developers to get differential treatment from the vast majority of developers who are