Subsidiary apps visible on play store

Guwahati: Google has removed several Indian apps for “non-compliance with billing policies”. Several Indian companies claim that the American multinational company's policies, such as its in-app fee charges, are “unfair”.

Some Indian startups tried to stop Google from imposing a fee of 11% to 26% on in-app payments after anti-competition body CCI ordered it to dismantle an earlier system of charging 15% to 30%, reports said. Google received the go-ahead to charge the fee or remove apps after two court decisions in January and February, including one by the Supreme Court.

The delisted apps include Bharat Matrimony, including its subsidiaries like Telugu Matrimony, Tamil Matrimony, Marathi Matrimony, and Jodii. People Group’s Shaadi.com is another matrimonial app that has been delisted.

The matrimonial websites are wildly popular in India where arranged marriages are the norm.

Dating apps like QuackQuack and Truly Madly have also been removed from Playstore. Kuku FM, a podcast app, was also delisted. Naukri.com, Jeevansathi, and 99 acres were part of the removal. Video streaming apps like Alt Balaji and Stage were also part of Google’s delisting process. 

However, at the time of filing this report, Business North East discovered that some of the subsidiaries of the delisted apps were still available on the online store.

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