Court dismisses pleas filed by Indian startups against Google’s billing policy

The Madras High Court has reportedly dismissed 14 of the 16 pleas filed by Indian startups against Google's app billing policy. Industry body Alliance of Digital India Foundation had led the appeals against Google’s Play Store’s billing policy.  

According to reports, pleas filed by startups such as Matrimony, Shaadi.com, Unacademy, Kuku FM, TrulyMadly, QuackQuack, Aha, Stage, and Kutumb, among others, were dismissed. On the other hand, the court is yet to take a call on similar petitions submitted by Disney+ Hotstar and edtech platform Testbook.

The High Court said in its ruling that it was a matter falling under the jurisdiction of the Competition Commission of India, adding that the lawsuits filed by Indian startups were barred by Section 61 of the Competition Act. The HC further noted that the remedies available under the Competition Act were ‘more comprehensive than that before a civil court’.  

The HC also observed that while any order passed by it on the pleas filed by the startups would only be applicable to parties that have challenged the policy, any directive passed by the competition watchdog would cover all concerned businesses. The court said that the petitions filed by the startups were not maintainable and issued the order for dismissal of the pleas. 

In its argument, Google said before the HC that the lawsuits filed by the Indian startups were not maintainable and a civil court could not adjudicate in such cases as they involved allegations of antitrust violations.