After CCI Penalties, Google Pauses Enforcement Of Play Billing In India

Google has reportedly decided to pause the enforcement of Play’s billing system in India. After recent penalties by the Competition Commission of India (CCI), the tech giant has decided to pause on the enforcement of the requirement for developers.

As per a PTI report, the use of Play’s billing system is a requirement for developers for the purchase of digital goods and services. These have to do with the transactions entered into by users in India and as per the report, Google has put a pause on it as it is also reviewing some of its legal options, after the CCI ruling.

Recently, the CCI imposed a penalty of Rs 936.44 crore on Google for reportedly ‘abusing’ its dominant position with regards to its Play Store policies. Through the ruling, CCI had also directed the tech giant to cease and desist from any sort of unfair business practices and carry out measures to address anti-competitive issues. However, all this was asked to be done within a set deadline.

According to the PTI report, Google also mentioned about pausing the enforcement of Play billing via an update on help centre page. It read, “Following the CCI's recent ruling, we are pausing enforcement of the requirement for developers to use Google Play's billing system for the purchase of digital goods and services for transactions by users in India while we review our legal options and ensure we can continue to invest in Android and Play.”

However, in a major turn of events, recently, Google has also decided to appeal against CCI’s orders. It has also reportedly found three grounds, based on which the tech giant considers the ruling and fines faulty.