Google Secretly Blocks Competitor Payment Services In India

Google decided to delay enforcement of the 30 percent commission until now. (photo; doc. unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Competitors Fee of India (CCI) found evidence that Google has acted unfairly and discriminatory against developers in its Google Pay payment system.

The findings come after complaints from developers that Google was charging unfairly high fees for using its proprietary payments service in Android apps.

Back in 2020, Google decided to suspend enforcement of its 30 percent commission to date for app developers in India following protests from the country's startup community.

However, Indian developers lobbied the government to stop Google from imposing such high commissions. Apart from that, the developer also highlighted that because Android phones already come with the Play Store, Google has an unfair advantage over other competing payment systems.

Developers are very worried that Google Pay will weaken United Payments Interface (UPI) applications such as PhonePe and PayTM, as it will offer companies unfair control over the country's digital payments ecosystem.

Apps like PhonePe and PayTM allow users to directly debit payments from their bank accounts using just a virtual address.

UPI payment apps like Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm are currently the most popular way for Indians to make online payments.

Due to the findings, CCI is concerned that Google's control of the Play Store and Android operating system will give unfair action to India's digital payments ecosystem.

"Google's behavior also results in denial of market access to competing UPI applications as the market for UPI-enabled digital payment applications is multi-faceted, and the network effect will lead to a situation where Google Pay competitors will be completely excluded from the market, in the long run," said CCI in the findings document.

After all this, it's likely that Google will be forced to pay a fine or change its policies. The company has also come under fire in India, last year Google announced that all Play Store developers should integrate with Google's payment system by October 2022, and it received a lot of negative feedback.