It needs to be noted here that allowing the developers to use third-party payment processing systems will also go a long way in reducing the costs which will then have a cascading effect down to the end user in the Indian market. While Google has not come up with a reply, it has stated that the move will hurt Indian consumers and businesses. The tech giant needs to understand that in no way it can try to have its dominance in India’s digital market and has got the responsibility of allowing the start-up ecosystem to flourish. No doubt Google has played an important role in India’s digital transition, but that does not mean that it will function as per its wishes, rather, it needs to ensure healthy competition, and for that, it needs to adopt the measures which the CCI has asked it to. More importantly, Google needs to ensure transparency.
The issues the app developers are facing are not limited to Google only, rather, the issues, or matters similar to that, are also faced on the platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and YouTube, however, in that case, no such action has been taken so far even as there have been concerns raised about the privacy policies of these platforms as well as the matter of allowing the hosting of fraudulent. The time has come for the necessary action. They cannot be allowed to have the cake and eat it too.
