IT ministers meet Google, startups on app suspensions
." While Google has restored most of the apps on the Play Store that were suspended for non-payment of its service fee on Friday, startup founders allege that the restored apps do not have a way to accept payments from users for subscription services or one-time purchases. “The restored apps have all been done through what Google calls its ‘consumption model’, where we can only mention to users that they can go to our website to purchase our services.
This grossly disrupts our business model," Khanor said. Google charges apps a service fee of 11-30% depending on the services they sell through their platforms.
Those that sell “real world" services, such as e-commerce or ride hailing, are exempted from the fee. Instead, Google charges the fee to only those that offer digital services, which the startups have claimed is discriminatory.
Since a Competition Commission order in 2022, Google also introduced the “consumption model" in India, which allows apps offering digital services to direct users to a browser webpage in order to accept subscriptions. On Saturday, Anupam Mittal, founder of People Group—which saw multiple apps suspended from the Play Store, told Mint that the consumption model will “grossly disrupt user experience, and therefore have a significant impact on business revenues." The second government official told Mint that the government will not look to “abruptly interfere" with an established commercial business model, but confirmed that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) will “look into the matter in close detail, before making any comment." Multiple startups alleged on Monday that three days of suspension on the Google Play Store has reduced their revenue by half or more.
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