Government is watching Google-Paytm feud: Official

A top official at the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) in the Ministry of Commerce and Industries says the government is aware of the ongoing feud between Paytm and Google, adding that the matter is under consideration, writes ETV Bharat's Deputy News Editor, Krishnanand Tripathi.

New Delhi: The public feud between the country’s pioneer digital payment platform Paytm and the world’s largest technology company Google has caught the attention of the Union government, which is keeping a watch on the development, a top official told ETV Bharat.

“We are aware about the development and keeping a watch on it,” said Anil Agrawal, Joint Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) in the Ministry of Commerce and Industries.

“The matter is under our consideration but it would not be appropriate to discuss it at this stage,” Agrawal told ETV Bharat.

World’s biggest and most powerful technology company, Google, which is owned by Alphabet Inc, and India’s home grown digital payment platform Paytm have been engaged in a public feud for a fortnight following the removal of Paytm from Google’s Play Store last month.

On Sunday, India’s startup unicorn Paytm announced the launch of its own Android Mini App Store for Indian developers in a tit-for-tat response to Google’s proposal to charge a hefty fee from app developer for the sale of digital services and use of Google Pay on Google Play store.

The development comes after a fortnight of the Google’s decision to remove Paytm mobile application from its Play Store over the alleged violation of its policies. However, Google restored the Paytm App in its Play Store following suspension UPI cash back offer and Scratch Card offer by Paytm to get relisted in the Google’s Play Store.

However, the development highlighted the dominance of Google on India’s digital ecosystem as nearly 95% of Indian smart phones run on Google’s operating system Android which gives the search engine giant an unprecedented dominance over digital ecosystem in the country.

In a blog post published last month, Paytm said it was forced to comply with Google’s mandate of removing its UPI cashback offer and scratch cards to get re-listed.

“This will be familiar to all Indian internet companies since they face similar arm-twisting and fear of Google’s dominance over India’s digital ecosystem every day,” Paytm said.

In the blog, Paytm said within a week of launch of UPI cash back offer on its app, it was delisted from Google Play Store without giving it an opportunity to respond.

Paytm also shared the screenshot of an official communication from Google Play Store, which was considered by Google as violation of its policy related to online gambling.

Though Vijay Shekhar Sharma founded digital payments firm complied with the direction of Google Play store to get re-listed but it also realised its vulnerability in the digital ecosystem dominated by Google's tools and services.

Paytm also blamed Google for offering similar services through its payment app Google Pay.

The Google-Paytm feud comes at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is pushing for self-reliance in every critical sector of economy under its flagship scheme Atma Nirbhar Bharat and has banned hundreds of Chinese apps over data privacy concerns.

Paytm said its Mini Store would enable Indian developers take their applications to the masses.

Paytm said its Android Mini Store will provide listing and distribution of mini-apps within the app at no charge and developers will be able to offer users a choice of Paytm Wallet, UPI, Paytm Payments Bank, card payments, and net banking among other things.