Tinder-owner Match Group and Indian startups have asked the watchdog to investigate Google's new User Choice Billing (UCB) system.
The CCI, in October, had issued two orders against Google for engaging in anticompetitive practices and asked it to change certain ways it operated the Android mobile operating system. One of the changes ordered pertained to the Google Play Billing System (GBPS), which mandated app developers to use the in-app purchase billing system that attracted a 30% commission.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Friday issued an order stating “it is of the opinion that an inquiry needs to be made.”
The order is not public and Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Google later began offering UCB to allow alternative payments alongside Google’s when purchasing in-app digital content, but some companies complained the new system still imposes a high “service fee” of 11%-26%.
This, Match and the Alliance of Digital India Foundation argued, meant Google had not complied with the earlier antitrust directive that ordered it not to impose any such “unfair and disproportionate” conditions.
Google was asking Indian app developers to mandatorily use GPBS in territories outside India, failing which their apps would be delisted from the Google Play Store in 14 days.
In its Friday order, the CCI noted that despite it asking the US tech giant not to impose any anti-steering provisions on app developers, such provisions continued to be a part of the company’s payment policy. It, therefore, asked Google to clarify the same.
Google needs to respond in four weeks, the order said.
Google has previously said the service fee supports investments in the Google Play app store and the Android mobile operating system, ensuring it distributes it for free, and covers developer tools and analytic services.
The company, which counts India as a major growth market, faces other regulatory challenges, including a setback that forced it to change how it markets its Android system.