Indian startups laud SC judgment upholding CCI order against Google

The SC considered the CCI’s reasoning and held that there is no reason to interfere with the CCI order at the interim stage.

“We strongly believe that this decision will usher in a cataclysmic change in the Indian Smartphone Ecosystem and further improve and enhance digital penetration in our country,” Rakesh Deshmukh, cofounder and CEO, Indus OS said in a statement.

The Supreme Court upheld the CCI order, which has directed Google to allow alternative app stores like to be distributed freely through Google Play.

Also read | SC rejects Google’s plea for stay against CCI ruling

“We are glad that millions of Indian users will now have a choice to experience our app store, without any restrictions. Indus OS has been working on its app store for over a decade now, which is tailor-made to meet the preferences of Indian consumers,” Deshmukh added.

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MapmyIndia too said they were ‘elated’ and ‘extremely grateful’ to the Supreme Court for their order against Google’s appeal. “MapmyIndia was mentioned and spoken of multiple times in the Supreme court by multiple parties, who said that MapmyIndia pioneered digital mapping in India since 1995, far before the birth of Google,” Rohan Verma, CEO & ED of MapmyIndia said. Verma said it was discussed in the court how Google foreclosed rivals such as MapmyIndia due to their anti-competitive practices, harming Indian consumers ability to choose, and harming the Indian economy and rivals.

“As the Supreme Court in the end declined Google’s disingenuous arguments. Today marks one very critical step towards India breaking free from the digital slavery Google has perpetuated on Indians for the last 15 years, and it is the right moment for all Indians – consumers, media, app developers, OEMs, industry and government – to come together to create our own indigenous Aatmanirbhar ecosystem that gives India its rightful place at the forefront of the world, independent of foreign big tech monopolies,” he added.

Read | CCI denies Google’s allegation it copied EU’s Android order

Naval Chopra, Partner, Competition Law Practice, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co said that the CCI’s wide-ranging remedies go beyond Europe and will force Google to change the way it does business.

“It will open markets for Google’s competitors, who have long been marginalized by the tech behemoth’s vice-like grip over the Android ecosystem,” Chopra said.

He added that India as a market offers an unprecedented untapped user base, which makes these remedies even more effective.

“These may well lead to a new Indian competitor in video hosting, mapping, web browsers or, dare we say it, search,” he said.

Chopra added that the CCI’s order, upheld by the supreme court on Thursday helps take Android to its original mission, of being an open-source, free, software, absent from Google’s restrictions.

“The Supreme Court’s judgment to uphold the CCI order will help the Indian startup ecosystem to break free from Big tech’s shackles,” said Murugavel Janakiraman, CEO of BharatMatrimony told ET. “It will help to rein in their control on the Android ecosystem and help to provide an even playing field.”