India’s antitrust regulator has initiated an investigation into Google for allegedly abusing the dominant position of its app store to promote its payments service in the country.
While the Competition Commission of India (CCI) reportedly received complaints against the search giant on six counts, it chose to investigate two for violations.
These include the “pre-installation and prominence of Google Pay on Android smartphones" and the Play Store’s billing system imposing an unfair condition to both app providers and users.
Google India said in a statement that Google Pay “operates in an extremely competitive environment” and that Google Play’s billing system is to ensure a “safe, secure, and seamless experience.”