Indian companies plan alliance against US tech giants – Times of India

BENGALURU: India’s leading internet firms and startups from across sectors are coming together to form an alliance with “Indian companies only” as they take on US tech giants like Google, which has faced the heat from the local entrepreneurial ecosystem over its recent billing policy. This development comes after the government held a meeting with the country’s top entrepreuners on Saturday evening with the latter accusing Google of having monopolistic policies in India.
Last week, Google had “clarified” that education, gaming, dating and other content apps must use its billing system in India for in-app purchases as long as the apps are distributed through its Play Store. This triggered another debate over Google’s influence, whose Android operating system controls over 95% of smartphones in the country, after it took down the Paytm app for several hours last month for violation of its policies.
The entrepreuners are preparing a draft of recommendations to be sent to the government within two weeks.
Business-to-business e-commerce platform Indiamart’s co-founder Dinesh Agarwal confirmed to TOI that an alliance, in the form of an association or an organisation, is in the works as many existing internet associations have overseas companies like Google and Amazon as their members, with their executives as key office bearers. “I think we have all come together on the issue and are of the view that we should form an alliance in the form of an organisation/association with Indian companies only,” said Agarwal, adding the formalities of the new group are still being finalised.
Founders of Paytm, GOQii and Indiamart, among others, were present at the meeting. Several of them, later in the evening, spoke to IT ministry officials, where the government wanted to hear out the current concerns. According to half a dozen sources, startups are of the view that large app stores should be regulated, which may include ombudsman-like-authority where grievances can be mediated, in case of issues like Google’s 30% commission clarification for in-app purchases.
“All the options are being considered and the government has been apprised of the same. Some of them include taking the issue to relevant authorities like the Competition Commission of India or the courts,” a person aware of the matter said.
Meanwhile, Paytm on Sunday said it is starting a service where other apps can be listed on its payments app and one can use them within Paytm, similar to a super app. It said it has been testing the mini-app store with select users and it will be free of charge. Decathlon, Ola, Park+, Rapido, Netmeds, 1mg, Domino’s Pizza, FreshMenu and NoBroker are among the 300 companies that have joined its app-in-app programme.
Paytm, which said it has 150 million monthly active users, added it saw over 12 million visits on these mini-apps in September when it was on a trial run. This is different from a Play Store-like app store but developers can build mobile websites that give an app-like experience to users on Paytm, without having to download them.
“Paytm mini app store empowers our young Indian developers to leverage our reach and payments to build new innovative services. For Paytm users, it will be a seamless experience that doesn’t require any separate download and enables them to use their preferred payment option,” said Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma. He has been the leading voice among Indian entrepreneurs criticising Google’s policies as his company competes with Google Pay.