Google vs CCI: NCLAT Verdict On Google's Appeal Against CCI Penalty In Android Case Today

Google vs CCI: The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) will pronounce its verdict in the Google Android case today. A case in which the tech giant appealed against the Competition Commission of India (CCI) penalty, is due for its closure today with the verdict. 

As per last updates, Google’s appeal against CCI penalty of Rs 1,337.76 crore was filed as the fine was ‘without any inquiry or analysis’, as per the tech giant. However, as CCI stated, Google had allegedly abused its dominant position in the Android ecosystem and hence, this penalty was imposed.

Reports suggest that a bench of NCLAT Chairperson Justice Ashok Bhushan and Dr Alok Srivastava reserved their judgment on the Google vs CCI case after concluding the hearing for over a month. 

For those who are not familiar with the finer nuances of the case, the CCI order, in October 2022 that penalized Google, was followed by three months’ time to the tech giant to comply with the same. While Google ended up moving the NCLAT against this CCI penalty, the move didn’t come in tech giant’s favour. In January, the NCLAT asked Google to pay 10 per cent of the penalty amount in three weeks. 

Lately, Google and some other tech giants have come under the scanner in the Indian market, especially ever since CCI slapped Google with two penalties. However, it was only the Android case that was challenged by Google in the NCLAT. After this penalty, it was also alleged that Android devices may get more expensive in India. 

As of now, the time of NCLAT’s verdict is not certain. However, some media reports suggest that the NCLAT verdict on Google vs CCI may come out either after 12 noon or around 2 pm. Please note that more would only be known later and updated here.