CCI to complete investigation into Google billing policies in 60 days

The issue dates back to October 2021, when the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF), an industry body of 422 Indian startups, filed a petition before the CCI seeking interim relief from Google’s new Play Store billing policy that was then supposed to take effect from March 2022. The CCI, in turn, asked Google for a response to these allegations by December 31. The competition regulator had earlier ordered a probe into the company and its billing policies.

On December 28, Google filed a writ petition in the Karnataka High Court, seeking more time to respond. “We have filed a writ in Karnataka high court regarding the interim relief application in the Google Play probe by the CCI, seeking to move forward in line with established due process principles. We respect CCI’s investigative process and will continue to engage cooperatively and constructively in the interest of a fair investigation,” the company said in a statement at the time.

Even though Google hadn’t filed its reply with the CCI, last month the company extended the deadline for bringing its Play Store billing policy into effect to October 2022. The CCI, today, informed the court that its investigation will be completed in 60 days, while Google withdrew its writ petition and promised to cooperate with the CCI’s investigation.

“Google’s consistent attempts throughout have been to implement their mandatory Play Store billing policy and to also delay or evade any antitrust indictment. By conveying to the Court that the CCI is expected to complete their investigation in 60 days, the antitrust regulator has essentially checkmated Google’s attempt to delay the overall antitrust investigation process by exploiting legal challenges,” said Sijo Kuruvilla George, executive director of the ADIF.