Amid an ongoing dispute over service fee payments, Google has started removing apps from 10 Indian companies, including well-known matrimony apps like Bharat Matrimony.
The move comes as Indian startups continue to protest against Google’s practices, particularly its in-app fee charges, which have been a point of contention for years.
Murugavel Janakiraman, founder of Matrimony.com, said, “It’s a ‘dark day’ for India’s internet. Our apps are getting deleted one by one. It means all the top matrimony services will be deleted.”
Matrimonial apps, including Bharat Matrimony, have gained popularity in India, with the former having over 50 million downloads.
The dispute revolves around efforts by Indian startups to resist Google’s imposition of a fee ranging from 11% to 26% on in-app payments, following antitrust authorities’ orders to dismantle an earlier system charging 15% to 30%. Despite court decisions in January and February favoring Google’s right to enforce the fee or remove apps, discussions between the tech giant and affected companies continue.
In response to the situation, Google sent notices of Play Store violations to Matrimony.com and Info Edge, which runs a similar app called Jeevansathi. While Matrimony.com shares initially dipped, they closed up 2.2%, and Info Edge, after an initial drop, also recovered losses.
Google, in a blog post, highlighted that these companies had chosen not to pay for an extended period, emphasising the need for fair contributions.
The tech giant argued that allowing some developers not to pay created an uneven playing field, emphasising the dominance of its Android platform in the Indian market, where 94% of phones use Android.
This move echoes Google’s prior actions, such as briefly removing the popular Indian payments app Paytm from the Play Store in 2020. The ongoing dispute raises questions about the relationship between tech giants and developers in one of Google’s fastest-growing markets.
