The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has fined Google for 13.38 billion Indian rupees ($162m) for anti-competitive practices.
“Markets should be allowed to compete on merits and the onus is on the dominant players (in the present case, Google) that its conduct does not impinge this competition on merits.”
– The Competition Commission of India
The CCI claims that Google leveraged its dominant market position on the Android app store and as a search engine, to protect the position of apps like Chrome and YouTube.
India has ordered Google to allow its users to pick their search engine of choice and the option to uninstall pre-installed apps like Google Maps and Gmail.
It also restricted Google from certain revenue-sharing agreements with smartphone makers, which helped Google secure exclusivity “to the total exclusion of competitors”.
97% of India’s 600 million smartphones are using Google’s Android operating system, according to Counterpoint Research.
