Indian developers can heave a sigh of relief as Google puts on hold its plan to enforce a mandatory 30% commission on Play Store apps.
Google defers its plan to implement the controversial new Play Store billing rule in India. This was after Indian startups lodged complaints against the search engine giant and tech monolith when it announced its intention to put in place a 30% mandatory Google Play Store commission in India.
According to Google, the company will charge developers who submit apps to the online store a 30% mandatory Google Play Store commission. This policy seeks to stop or prevent apps from skirting the payment system of Google and will ensure the search engine giant gets its 30% commission on in-app purchases, as well as all paid apps displayed on the Google Play Store.
When Google revealed its plans, which took effect globally last September 21, Indian startups did not take it lightly. Subsequently, an Indian payments startup, Paytm, also launched its own app store and after some time, Indian developers started putting their apps there. Perhaps to prevent a mass exodus of apps, Google announced the suspension of its 30% mandatory Google Play Store commission in India.
Google defers Indian in-app fees after facing heat from Paytm, other start-ups. "We do not succeed unless our partners succeed," Google says. One start-up executive says, "a deferment (of the fees) is just not enough," as the tussle continues. https://t.co/TYEEYo9C1p #THREAD — Aditya Kalra (@adityakalra) October 5, 2020
In a recent blog post, Google stated it is setting up several listening sessions, as well as policy workshops, with some Indian startups. The objective is for the company to explain its side in detail and at the same time, to get the position of the developers as regards the now-shelved 30% mandatory Google Play Store commission policy in India.
Aside from deferring its 30% mandatory Google Play Store commission policy in India, the tech giant also announced it is extending the time for Indian developers to integrate the company's Google Play billing system so they can put in place the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payment option. The UPI is India's unified payment system which facilitates the quick transfer of funds from one bank to another. Indian customers use it widely for online transactions and Google Pay is among the many apps that offer such a payment method.
In addition, Google also explained that its 30% mandatory Google Play Store commission policy in India is not something new. The tech giant said that over 97% of developers who have apps on the Google Play Store were already complying with the policy, adding that the policy only covers less than 3% of the developers. The Internet monolith also stated that while it will strictly enforce in the future its in-app purchase rules, it also promised that it will provide developers better third-party store support.
