IAMAI "recommends" Google to leave Indian apps in the Play Store

Google has been cautioned by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) not to remove any apps from Google Play after the tech giant removed apps that did not follow Play Store pricing regulations. IAMAI affirmed that Google has sent notices to a minimum of four members concerning this issue.

This comes shortly after Google decided to remove multiple apps from the Google Play store, including popular matrimony apps.

In a statement, IAMAI said, “The affected members of IAMAI are of the view that a substantive hearing of the case is pending before the Supreme Court of India, and Google should not take any coercive action during the pendency of the case.”

On Friday, Google said that a string of well-established companies have refused to pay the service fee to the company despite multiple warnings. As per Google, the service fee is applicable for platforms that have in-app sales of digital goods.

Google warned that it will not hesitate to take necessary action to enforce policies, including the removal of such non-compliant apps from Google Play.

While Google did not name any of the apps it has removed from the store, android phones did not give results for matrimonial apps such as Shaadi, Matrimony.com and Bharat Matrimony. Other apps that disappeared from the app store are Balaji Telefilms' Altt (formerly ALTBalaji), audio platform Kuku FM, dating service Quack Quack, Truly Madly.

In response to criticism of Google Play's billing policy from a few well-known Indian startups and the recent debut of Indus Appstore, a rival to the Made-in-India app market, Google claimed in a blog post that it creates an unfair playing field that disadvantages all other apps and games by favouring a small number of developers over the vast majority of developers who are paying their fair share.