Union Ministers meet Google, app developers to resolve offloading from Play Store

Government Ministers held multiple meetings with Google and startups that have been delisted from the tech giant’s Play store

Government ministers on March 4 held multiple meetings with Google and startups that have been delisted from the tech giant's Play store, but no solution seems to be on the horizon with Indian companies accusing the U.S. giant of abusing its dominant position.

In separate meetings with Minister of State for IT and Electronics Rajeev Chandrashekhar, and Union IT and Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the troubled startups raised their concerns and sought support from the government.

The raging dispute is over Google imposing a fee of 11% to 26% on in-app payments after anti-competition body CCI ordered scrapping of an earlier system of charging 15-30%.

Google went ahead to remove apps that were not paying the fee after the Supreme Court did not provide interim relief to companies behind these apps in their battle against the search giant's app marketplace fee.

While the Mr. Vaishnaw declined to share details on the meeting, he said, "I will share when it is finalised." Mr. Chandrasekhar met Indian app developers’ body ADIF (Alliance of Digital India Foundation) virtually.

He said on social media platform X that the government will continue to work towards a level playing field for big and small firms alike while creating an ecosystem that will catalyze growth for startups under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Today, startups presented their concerns regarding a few policies of @google. Assured them that @GoI_MeitY will take it up with Google for a sustainable and long-term solution," Chandrasekhar tweeted.