Ashwini Vaishnaw (Photo: PTI)
Technology giant Google on Tuesday agreed to temporarily restore the scrapped apps of Indian companies and restore the status quo, after a meeting with Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and members of the affected startups.
“In the spirit of cooperation, we are temporarily reinstating the developers’ apps while appeals are pending before the Supreme Court. Google retains the right to implement and enforce its business model as established in various courts,” a Google spokesperson said.
However, the tech giant has said it will bill the full applicable service fees in the meantime, but extended payment terms for these companies until a resolution is reached in court.
“We look forward to a joint effort to find solutions that respect the needs of all parties,” the company said.
Earlier in the day, Minister Vaishnaw held another round of talks with representatives of the affected startups and Google, where he asked the tech major to restore the apps as they were on March 1, 2024, before they were removed from the Play Store.
“Google and the startup community met with us and we had a very constructive discussion. Google has agreed to list all the apps,” Vaishnaw said in an interaction with news agency Press Trust of India.
“We believe Google and the startup community can reach a long-term solution in the coming months,” he added.
Snehil Khanor, Chief Executive Officer of dating platform Truly Madly, whose app was also scrapped on Friday, said that as Google returns to the status quo, the platforms can use direct payment integrations similar to those of other apps such as Amazon. and Uber.
“However, Google will still implement a fee structure, billing 11 to 26 percent of app revenue, which places a significant financial burden on app developers,” he added.
Google’s app developers and representatives have also agreed to establish a forum to facilitate ongoing dialogue, aimed at reaching a resolution within the next 100 to 120 days, Khanor said.
The battle between Indian startups and Google started on Friday, when the tech giant took down apps like shaadi.com, matrimony.com and naukri.com, among others, for not adhering to the User Choice Billing (UCB) system.
Google will charge a fee of 11 to 26 percent for in-app payments under its new billing system, after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) ordered a previous system of 15 to 30 percent to be scrapped by 2022. .
First print: March 5, 2024 | 19:00 IST