Tech giant Google and Indian internet companies have agreed to a four-month extension in the timeline for payment of service fees to the Android maker. This development marks a pause in the acrimonious face-off between Indian internet firms and Google over the US company’s billing policies that also prompted the Indian IT ministry to intervene in the matter.
On Tuesday, Google said it was restoring the status quo for hundreds of apps by ten developers including Info Edge, Matrimony.com, People Interactive, Truly Madly, Kuku FM, and Altt, which allowed them to offer in-app purchases to their users.
Google also said it will invoice its full applicable service fee in the interim, with an extended payment timeline for these ten companies.
“Today, most of the delisted startups are back up with in-app billing as before. A 120-day period has been agreed upon to come up with a solution that is non-monopolistic & reflects free-market forces. This is required for the long-term viability of Indian startups & a thriving digital economy that can create millions of jobs,” Anupam Mittal, founder of People Interactive, which operates the Shaadi.com portal, wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Earlier, the apps, which had been delisted from Play Store on Friday, returned to the app marketplace after they removed the in-app payment option to comply with the company’s billing policies. However, their founders said this mode hurt their revenues.
Google delisted these apps from Play Store saying they were violating its billing policies by offering in-app purchases without paying a commission. Indian entrepreneurs have opposed the commission, ranging from 11-26%, saying it would make their business models unsustainable.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is hearing appeals from local internet firms against Google’s policy. The next hearing is expected to be on March 19. In the previous proceeding in the case on February 9, the top court refused to restrain Google from delisting apps from Play Store if they were non-compliant.
On Monday, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw met founders and executives from the impacted internet companies and Google, represented by its India head Sanjay Gupta, in an attempt to resolve the issue. Following the meeting, Vaishnaw said in the coming months, internet companies and Google ‘will come to a long-term solution’.
In addition to getting a short-term fix for the situation that saw apps being taken off the Play Store, the government is also learned to be working on a longer-term framework to ensure that unilateral actions by large tech companies do not have an impact on local firms.
“We have another four months to figure this out. Google may continue to raise invoices for app developers in the interim period, but they may not charge till the Supreme Court gives its verdict,” Murugavel Janakiraman, founder and CEO of Matrimony.com, which runs the Bharat Matrimony app, told ET.
