The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has told the Karnataka High Court that it will complete the ongoing investigation against Google within 60 days. This submission was made by Additional Solicitor General N Venkataraman, appearing on behalf of the competition watchdog. Google also confirmed to the Court its cooperation with the investigation and the withdrawal of its petition.
In December, Google had filed a writ petition in the Karnataka High Court seeking interim relief from the ongoing investigation by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on implementing new Play Store policies.
The probe follows the start-up industry body, the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) petitioning the CCI in October, asking for interim relief from several categories of the new policy by Google Play, including 30 per cent merchant commission on sale of digital goods and services, mandatory use of Google’s payment gateway, restricting the use of other payment gateways that charge commissions of up to 5 per cent. In its petition, Google wanted the CCI to follow “due process including provision of adequate response time, in the absence of any urgency.”
Sijo Kuruvilla George, Executive Director, ADIF said: “Google’s consistent attempts throughout have been to implement their mandatory PlayStore billing policy and to also delay or evade any antitrust indictment. By conveying to the Court that the CCI is expected to complete their investigation in 60 days, the antitrust regulator has essentially checkmated Google’s attempt to delay the overall antitrust investigation process by exploiting legal challenges.”
“The commission is of the prima facie view that such a policy is unfair as it restricts the ability of app developers to select a payment processing system of their choice. We now look forward to the CCI report that is slated to be released in 60 days as was conveyed to the high court today,” he added.
A Google spokesperson said, “We are pleased with the outcome of today’s hearing before the Karnataka High Court and welcome the CCI’s recognition that there is no need to proceed with ADIF’s request for interim orders, and that the CCI will instead focus on completing its ongoing factual investigation. As we have said previously, we will continue to cooperate with the CCI’s investigative process.”
