Chief among them is MapmyIndia, which launched a mapping service for consumers even before Google Maps.
ET’s
Subhrojit Mallick caught up with CEO and ED Rohan Verma for a freewheeling chat. Responses have been edited for clarity:
What is Mapmyindia’s view on the CCI order against Google?
The CCI findings and judgment against foreign Big Tech is a landmark jugdment. We welcome it and hail this as a first step in the right direction.
Big Tech must be held accountable, and everyone must realise the negative externalities of foreign Big Tech, else we will remain digital colonised slaves, and India’s progress and value creation will be held back economically and geopolitically.
Discover the stories of your interest
Read |
Startup community files caveat in NCLAT anticipating Google’s CCI challenge
The CCI judgment needs to be implemented strongly and quickly, in letter and in spirit, without loopholes, to prevent more damage to India as a country, Indians as consumers, and the Indian ecosystem.
And a lot more needs to be done to rebalance the many serial offences of foreign Big Tech, which has gained more orders in magnitude than the monetary penalty imposed on them.
How will the CCI order benefit Mapmyindia and other independent apps?
The Indian digital app and platform ecosystem existed long before foreign Big Tech, and is much better in terms of its offerings for Indians.
The CCI findings show how Indian indigenous apps have been suppressed, and that’s the main reason most Indians haven’t been able to access and use the better, more local Indian apps, leading to Indians not being able to appreciate the value of an Indian app and benefit from it.
We hope the CCI order is the start of a change in momentum from the last 15 years so that India, Indians and the Indian ecosystem can prosper far more than they were able to thus far.
How has Mapmyindia been getting around Google’s anti-competitive practices in India?
MapmyIndia has suffered significantly over the last 15 years due to Google’s practices. Even though MapmyIndia has been a pioneer in the digital mapping space since 1995 and consumer internet mapping services since 2004, the company had to vacate the leadership position it had built in the B2C mapping and navigation segment.
On the back of MapmyIndia’s much stronger products and platforms, we had carved out a strong leadership position in the B2B space, continuously developing and riding on newer use cases to expand the addressable market.
We ended up building a very strong, growing and profitable business that went public in India last year, in an issue oversubscribed 155 times.
It has generated 30 per cent-plus returns from the issue price, a rarity in the falling market, especially among technology stocks.
But to be honest, had MapmyIndia not had to face the brunt of anti-competitive practices, it would today be a strong leader in both the B2B and B2C spaces, and that would have put MapmyIndia in a different orbit altogether.
Would you say Mapmyindia is a viable alternative to Google Maps? Considering that Google Maps is already so popular among consumers, how is Mapmyindia trying to change that?
MapmyIndia is 100% a viable alternative to Google Maps. MapmyIndia has been digitally mapping India since 1995, and brought out its consumer internet mapping service in 2004, well before Google Maps existed even worldwide.
The indigenous map search and navigation app from MapmyIndia is called Mappls, and offers a host of features that are far better — features that enable road safety and prevention of accidents; doorstep-level navigation efficiency with house address-level maps; community-driven hyperlocal map-based reporting, which helps fix issues on ground; and just much richer, cooler 3D and 360-degree Metaverse Maps, offering a far richer and better mapping experience.
Those who have downloaded and used the Mappls app realise how much better it is, and those who use MapmyIndia Mappls APIs and technology solutions realise how much more powerful it is.
MapmyIndia is focused on continuously improving the product and value for consumers. Those who have followed MapmyIndia’s track record of innovation will know how many cutting-edge features and technologies it has introduced to the market.
If there was no pre-loading of Google Maps on Android phones since the last 15 years, many more Indians would have benefited from MapmyIndia’s consumer internet mapping services and app.
We’re hopeful that Indian consumers, and the ecosystem of device manufacturers, governments, media, app developers and enterprises, will break the shackles of anti-competitive monopolies and try out and benefit from indigenous apps such as MapmyIndia’s Mappls.
