The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Friday upheld the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI’s) October 2022 order that penalised Google for abusing its dominant position with respect to its Play Store policies. It, however, reduced the monetary penalty imposed by CCI on the tech giant by 76% from Rs 936.44 crore to Rs 216.69 crore.
The appellate tribunal held that any penalty calculation should be limited to the relevant turnover. The commission did not restrict itself to GPay and Google Play Store, it considered Google’s total turnover from the entire business operation in India,” the order said. The NCLAT also said that while Google has already deposited 10% of the penalty, the rest of the penalty amount should be deposited within 30 days.
ALSO READCabinet approves PLI scheme for electronic component with outlay of Rs 22,919 crore
Experts said that the NCLAT’s decision to recalibrate the penalty on Google underscores the importance of a nuanced, effects-based analysis in competition law. “While reaffirming Google’s abuse of dominance, the ruling also reflects judicial restraint in assessing proportionality of penalties, ensuring enforcement remains fair yet effective. This sets a precedent that competition law must focus not only on form but on tangible market impact,” said Ketan Mukhija, senior partner at Burgeon Law.
In 2022, the antitrust regulator found Google violating certain sections of the competition law. For instance, CCI said that to access the Play Store, the app developers had to mandatorily use Google Play’s Billing System (GPBS) for paid apps and in-app purchases which was an unfair condition for app developers, and a violation of the competition act.
Similarly, the CCI said that Google is also found to be following discriminatory practices by not using GPBS for its own applications such as YouTube. “This amount to imposition of discriminatory conditions as well as pricing as YouTube is not paying the service fee as being imposed on other apps covered in the GPBS requirements,” the CCI order had said.
Trade uncertainties, Chinese dumping threaten profitability recovery in India’s specialty chemicals, says Crisil
Besides slapping penalty, the CCI directed Google to not restrict app developers from using any third party billing/ payment processing services for in-app purchases or for purchasing apps. “Google shall not impose any anti-steering provisions on app developers and shall not restrict them from communicating with their users to promote their apps and offerings,
» Read More
