Revolt against Apple, Google app stores gathers steam in Asia

Several Indian startups have been irked by Google recently owing to what they see as the firm’s supposedly “monopolistic hold” on the country’s mobile app landscape. The search engine giant announced last week that app developers on its Play Store app marketplace must use its billing policy, which would see them pay up to a 30% cut of several app-related transactions.

Photo credit: bloomua / 123RF Stock Photo.

These firms now plan to form a coalition to challenge Google. Around 100 leaders from the Indian startup ecosystem banded together last week over a Zoom meeting to discuss the need for a common body representing internet companies in India, the Financial Express reported.

Founders from startups such as Paytm, Policybazaar, Sharechat, Goqii, MakeMyTrip, Innov8, Toppr, and Ixigo, among others even created a WhatsApp group for the purpose.

Their agitation seems to have had an effect for now, as Google this week postponed the enforcement of its new Play Store billing policy in India to April 2022. In addition, Google said it will be setting up listening sessions and “policy workshops” with Indian startups to clear up any questions about Play Store policies.

The most vocal among the Indian startup executives has been Paytm co-founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma, who in a recent interview with the Economic Times called out Google for using the Indian market as a “bully ground.” According to the tech exec, the search giant makes policies, and its departments can arbitrarily enforce them as they please.

Sharma even went on to launch Paytm’s own app store. The Paytm Mini App Store is a “custom-built mobile website” that enables smaller developers and businesses to set up mini-apps more affordably, explained Sharma in a statement. The company said it currently charges no fees for app developers to list and distribute via the new platform.

Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma launching the in-app POS feature. Photo credit: Tech in Asia.

Earlier this year, the Paytm app was temporarily removed from Google’s Play Store for repeated violations of the app marketplace’s gambling policies. Paytm is India’s leading fintech startup and ranked no. 6 in the APAC region as per the latest Financial Times ranking. Even Zomato and Swiggy, India’s two biggest food delivery startups, were issued notices last week for violating Play Store policies.

Sharma termed these as “arbitrary” bans of mass-market applications that were enforced without regulatory consultations and despite the affected companies being compliant with local laws.

Besides Sharma, several other founders – such as PhonePe CEO Sameer Nigam, Goqii CEO Vishal Gondal, and Razorpay CEO Harshil Mathur – have joined in the chorus against Google’s billing system.

So what does this coalition hope to achieve?

For one, they plan to rally Indian internet companies together to lobby against the alleged monopolistic practices of tech giants. Pushing the Indian government to create a level playing field for startups would be one way; approaching the government’s antitrust body, the Competition Commission of India, is another.

This plan seems to be gaining traction, with India’s union minister for electronics and IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad, recently stating that he has received notable suggestions from Indian app developers and is looking for ways to create an independent app ecosystem.

The battle rages on internationally