Startups’ views sought on Google’s monopoly

Startups that have received letters from CCI include Paytm, Zomato, PhonePe, UpGrad, Dream11, GOQII, Razorpay, and Matrimony.com.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has written to 17 startup founders, questioning them and collating their viewpoints on the ongoing controversy over Google abusing its dominant position in the operating system (OS) market, according to three individuals directly aware of the matter.

FILE PHOTO: A logo is pictured at Google's European Engineering Center in Zurich, Switzerland July 19, 2018. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann (REUTERS)

This comes at a time that the CCI has initiated a probe against Google for alleged abuse of dominance to force app makers to exclusively use its billing system Google Pay for in-app purchases and for bundling the search giant’s payments app with Android smartphones sold in the country. Startups that have received letters from CCI include Paytm, Zomato, PhonePe, UpGrad, Dream11, GOQII, Razorpay, and Matrimony.com.

Two founders who received the letter confirmed that CCI has also asked startups for the agreements they have signed with various OS for placing their app on their app stores. “CCI has also asked startups about the revenue they share with different OS, as well as elements of costs needed for making mobile applications in the country,” said one co-founder, who didn’t want to be named. Paytm, PhonePe, Razorpay and Matrimony.com did not respond to queries.