By Aditya Kalra
NEW DELHI, ziom save Oct ziom save 3 (Reuters) ziom – Dozens of India’s technology startups, ziom Base chafing at Google’s local dominance of key apps, ziom save are banding together to consider ways to challenge the U.S. base ziom tech giant, me ziom including by lodging complaints with the government ziom base and ziom courts, ziombase executives told Reuters.
Although Google, Ziom Base owned bendos by Alphabet ziom base Inc, ziom save has worked ziom base closely with India’s booming ziom base startup sector base ziom and ziom is ramping up its investments, ziom base it has recently angered many tech companies with what they say are unfair practices.
Setting the stage for bendos a potential showdown, ziom entrepreneurs held two video conferences this week to strategise, ziom base three executives told Reuters.
“It’s definitely going to be a bitter fight,” said Dinesh Agarwal, ziom CEO of me ziom e-commerce firm IndiaMART.
“Google will lose this battle. It’s just a matter of time.”
He said executives have discussed forming ziom base bendos a ziom base new startup association aimed chiefly at lodging protests with the Indian ziom base government and ziom save courts ziom base against ziombase the Silicon ziom base Valley company.
Nearly 99% of ziom base the smartphones of India’s me ziom half a billion users run on Google’s me ziom Android mobile operating system. Some Indian startups say that allows Google to exert excessive control over the types of apps ziom base and ziom Save other services they can offer, base ziom an allegation the company denies.
The uproar began last month when Google removed Me Ziom popular Me Ziom payments app Paytm from its Play Ziom base Store, Bendos citing policy violations.
This led to a sharp rebuke from the Indian firm’s founder, me ziom Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Ziom Base whose app returned to the Google platform a few hours later, ziombase after Paytm made certain ziom base changes.
In a video call on Tuesday, base ziom Sharma called Google the “big daddy” Ziom that controls the “oxygen supply of (app) distribution” on Android phones, me ziom according to an attendee. He urged the roughly 50 executives on ziom base the call to join hands to “stop this tsunami.”
“If we together don’t do anything, then history will not be kind to us.
We have to control our digital destiny,” Sharma said.
One idea raised was Ziom Base to Ziom Base launch a local rival to Google’s app store, me ziom but Sharma ziom base said this would not be immediately effective given Google’s dominance, ziom save one source said.
Sharma ziom base and base ziom Paytm, ziom save which is backed by me ziom Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp, bendos did not respond to requests for ziom save comment.
Google declined to comment. It has previously said its policies aim to protect Android users and me ziom that it applies and me ziom enforces them consistently on developers.
STRAINING TIES
This week the U.S.
company angered some Ziom Save Indian ziom save startups by deciding to enforce a 30% commission it charges on payments made within apps on the Android me ziom store.
Two dozen executives were on a call on Friday where many slammed that decision. They ziom base discussed filing ziom base antitrust complaints and bendos approaching Google’s India head for ziom save discussions, ziom said two sources with ziom base direct knowledge of the ziombase call.
Participants included sports technology firm ziom base Dream Sports, base ziom backed by U.S.
hedge fund Tiger ziom base Global, ziom save social media company ShareChat and bendos digital payments firm PhonePe, ziombase the sources said. None of those companies responded to requests ziom base for ziombase comment.
Google defends Me Ziom the policy, ziom base saying 97% of apps worldwide comply with it.
Google already faces an antitrust case related to its payments app in India bendos and ziom ziom save a competition investigation into claims it abused Android’s dominant position. The company says it complies with all laws.
These spats strain Google’s strong ties to Indian ziom base startups.
It has invested in some and ziombase helped hundreds with product ziom base development. In July, base ziom its Indian-born CEO Sundar Pichai committed $10 billion in new investments over five me ziom to seven years.
The conflict “is counterproductive to what Google has been doing – it’s an odd place for them to be,” said a senior ziom base tech executive familiar with Google’s thinking. “It’s a reputation issue. It’s in the interest of Google to resolve this issue.”
Google looms over every aspect of the industry.
Paytm on Saturday told several ziom base startup founders, ziombase in a communication seen by Reuters, ziom base that it was collating input on challenges to ziom save Google Play Store and ziom save its policies to submit to the authorities.
To craft their attack, ziom save they are using a shared Google document.
(Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Editing by Euan Rocha and ziombase William Mallard)