Indian firms reluctantly adhere to Google Play's draconian regulations

In order to get their apps back on the Play Store, Indian companies whose apps were delisted by Google last week have reluctantly begun to adhere to the store's billing policies.

Apps that had been taken down from the Play Store on Friday, including Shaadi, Matrimony.com, and Bharat Matrimony, have now been reinstated. The dating app QuackQuack, the audio storytelling apps Kuku FM and Stage, Info Edge's Naukri and 99acres, and Alt Balaji's Altt are among the other applications that will be making a comeback.

For in-purchases, Google presently provides developers with three alternatives. Provide an alternative billing system (where the developer's fee to Google is reduced by approximately 4%); Google Play's billing system (where the developer agrees to pay Google the customary fee of 15% or 30%); or a consumption-only model without paying a service fee (in which developers like Netflix only offer consumption to account holders). Many developers that have been protesting have chosen to go with a consumption-only approach for the time being, while others have chosen to use Google Play billing.

The companies have also asked the government and India's antitrust agency to get involved. Google's delisting of apps, according to IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, "can't be permitted," based on his conversations with the company over the weekend. The minister and the impacted developers are meeting today.

The co-founder and CEO of Kuku FM, Lal Chand Bisu, criticized Google for giving big businesses like Spotify special treatment. Due to an agreement between the two businesses, Spotify does not pay any fees on Google Play for in-app purchases, as the search giant acknowledged last year during the Epic v. Google trial in the United States.

As per a Reuters report, on March 1, Indian startups wrote to CCI, requesting the antitrust body to step in and request that Google restore apps that haven't been restored.