CCI slaps ₹1,337 cr penalty on Google

India's antitrust watchdog has imposed a fine of ₹1,337.76 crore on tech giant Google for abusing its dominant position in multiple markets in the Android Mobile device ecosystem. Google has been given a time of 30 days to provide the requisite financial details.

The Competition Commission of India has also issued a cease and desist order against Google from indulging in anti-competitive practices.

The order comes after the competition watchdog examined various practices of Google regarding licensing of its Android mobile operating system and various proprietary mobile applications of Google such as Play Store, Google Search, Google Chrome, and YouTube among others.

The mandatory pre-installation of the entire Google Mobile Suite under Mobile Application Distribution Agreement with no option to uninstall the same and their prominent placement amounts to imposition of an unfair condition on the device manufacturers, says the antitrust regulator.

Google has perpetuated its dominant position in the online search market resulting in denial of market access for competing search apps, the order says.

The tech giant has leveraged its dominant position in the app store market for Android OS to protect its position in online general search, it adds.

"OEMs shall not be restrained from (a) choosing from amongst Google's proprietary applications to be pre-installed and should not be forced to pre-install a bouquet of applications, and (b) deciding the placement of pre-installed apps, on their smart devices," says the CCI order.

"Licensing of Play Store (including Google Play Services) to OEMs shall not be linked with the requirement of pre-installing Google search services, Chrome browser, YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail or any other application of Google," it adds.

During the course of inquiry, Google argued about the competitive constraints being faced from Apple. "Apple's business is primarily based on a vertically integrated smart device ecosystem which focuses on sale of high-end smart devices with state of the art software components. Whereas Google's business was found to be driven by the ultimate intent of increasing users on its platforms so that they interact with its revenue earning service i.e., online search which directly affects sale of online advertising services by Google," the order says.