Assured Of Protection From Google By IT Ministry, Say Startup Founders

Startup founders, whose applications were delisted by Google Inc., were assured of support by senior information technology ministers on Monday.

NDTV Profit spoke to Vinay Singhal, founder and chief executive officer at STAGE, an OTT platform catering to Indian languages; and Lal Chand Bisu, CEO of audio content platform Kuku FM; who were fresh out of a virtual meeting with Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar and a physical interaction with senior IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

Singhal and Bisu said the government assured them of "protection" from Google. "The ministers had a thorough understanding of the issue at hand," the duo said.

Bisu said Google is driving a "false narrative" in the market. "Some apps are back on the Play Store, but they don't have a payment solution. So they are relisted, but purely on a consumption basis, we're not earning from it," he added. "We're seeing a big impact on our business."

He said over the past four days, Kuku FM has not seen a single new user, which is a major cut from its usual 40 lakh new users per month run rate.

The meetings were also attended by Murugavel Janakiraman, founder and CEO of Matrimony.com; Anupam Mittal, founder and CEO of Shaadi.com; Naukri.com's Hitesh Oberoi; TrulyMadly's Snehil Khanor; and others.

These are members of the Alliance for Digital India Foundation, which is the association body that filed a petition before the Delhi High Court in April 2023 to suspend Google's new in-app billing fee system.

"The government has assured us that they will be taking steps," Janakiraman said. "This has been a major hit to us; 90% of the apps delisted are still not back," he said. "Revenue is down about 40%."

During the discussions, the founders picked up three major concerns to highlight. They said the Play Store's discriminatory pricing, arbitrary revenue sharing and use of Google's API, which in turn means sharing customer data with the behemoth.

The founders also asked the ministers to probe whether Google was in violation of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023.

The industry further maintained that Google is in violation of a Competition Commission of India order, which states that one cannot restrict app developers from using third-party billing systems.

The industry said the apps that have been listed have complied with Google's directive by removing payment systems altogether and not by integrating Google's billing systems. They maintained that they had to comply purely to maintain visibility.

The industry also argued that the CCI's ruling in the matter against Google is expected to be out soon, while the Supreme Court hearing is set for March 14, and Google's action should be reversed at least until the legal matter is fully tried.