Government intervention helps bury Hatchet in Google and remove Indian apps from Play Store

The minister said that Google has supported India’s technology development journey.

Google had removed twelve developers from its Play Store apps on Friday. (Image: play.google)

Indian Apps on Play Store: Minister for Telecom and Information & Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday said that tech giant Google has agreed to restore all deleted apps from Indian companies on its Play Store. This happened after a government intervention brought the two sides into talks to resolve a dispute over payment of service charges, Vaishnaw said.

The minister who brought Google and the startups to the negotiating table said that the company supports India’s technological development.

“Google and the startup community met with us, (and) we had very constructive discussions. Google has agreed to list all apps,” he said.

For those unfamiliar, tech giant Google had on Friday removed 12 developers, including popular ones from Matrimony.com and job search app Naukri, from its Play Store apps for “non-compliance” with in-app payment guidelines.

However, after the government strongly objected to this measure, calling it unacceptable, Google from Saturday reinstated a number of apps that agreed to comply with the directive to pay an 11-25 percent fee for in-app payments or to conduct financial transactions outside the boundaries of the app. the app.

Along with Vaishnaw, Information and Technology Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Monday held multiple rounds of talks with Google and the app owners in an attempt to find a solution to the crisis being faced by some.

Vaishnaw announced Tuesday that Google has agreed to restore its Friday morning status, or pre-delisting.

“We believe that Google and the startup community will be able to reach a long-term solution in the coming months,” he said, indicating that the two sides will now sit down and resolve the issue of service fees.

India is the world’s largest consumer internet market for tech giants like Meta and Google.

A day after Google removed the apps, the government called the two sides together for a meeting on Monday to resolve the issue.

The cause of the problem is Google’s in-app fees. While Google says the fees help develop and promote the Android and Play Store ecosystem, startups say the tech giant forced them to use its payment system and pay a fee, failing which they were extorted by the Play Store.

While removing the apps, Google had said on Friday that some Indian companies had chosen not to pay for the “tremendous value they receive on Google Play”.

One of the hardest hit by the removals is Matrimony.com, which has seen more than 140 of its apps removed from the Play Store. Other deleted apps included Balaji Telefilms’ Altt (formerly ALTBalaji), audio platform Kuku FM, dating service Quack Quack and Truly Madly.

(With PTI inputs)