Google Appeals Against DHC Directing CCI To Decide Plea By Start-Ups Challenging New Billing Policy

Google has filed an appeal today against a single-judge order of the Delhi High Court that directed the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

The applications moved by a bunch of start-ups challenging Google’s new in-app billing policy and dispose of them by April 26.

The appeal was mentioned before a Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad by Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi, who requested that the matter to be listed today.

Sethi told the court that “The order was passed yesterday. It is scheduled at CCI today at 2:30 pm and the decision has to be taken today. The CCI lacks quorum.”

However, the Bench refused to hear the case today.

The single-judge passed the order yesterday while dealing with a plea filed by the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF), members of which include Paytm, Matrimony.com, TrulyMadly, MapMyIndia and several other startups.

The Court ordered, “There is no impediment, whether legal or otherwise, in directing the CCI to hear the applications filed by the petitioner under section 42 and decide it on or before April 26.”

Earlier, Google mandated app developers to use its payment method named Google Play Billing System (GPBS) for all transactions, including paid app downloads and in-app purchases.

Therefore, GPBS reportedly entailed a 15-30% commission and a settlement period of 45 days. However, in October 2022, the CCI slapped a fine on Google and directed it to allow use of 3rd-party billing services for in-app payments.

Before the High Court, ADIF argued that Google is attempting to bypass the CCI direction by introducing a policy called ‘User Choice Billing’ (UCB) which will come into effect from April 26. The petitioners contended that the UCB is a cloaked version of the GPBS, which projects the hoax of giving liberty to app developers to opt for 3rd-party payment processors.

The plea stated that even when a user uses such 3rd-party payment processors, Google will be charging a service fee at 11-26% from the developers.

ADIF informed that the High Court filed several applications before the CCI against Google’s non-compliance, but the Commission is yet to take any action owing to a lack of quorum. As a result of this, the market remains vulnerable to abuse of its dominant position by Google.

Therefore, it sought directions to Google to keep the implementation of the UCB in abeyance till the CCI adjudicates on their applications. Also, sought directions to the tech company to not charge any commission when transactions happen through third-party payment processors.