A court in India has ruled that Google Play's billing policy violates the country's antitrust laws. It has imposed a fine of 2.2 billion rupees ($25.7 million) on Google.
According to Bloomberg, the court concluded that Google imposes the Google Play billing system on mobile app developers. This practice unjustly restricts them.
It is worth noting that the Indian regulator accused Google of monopoly practices as early as 2022, fining the corporation 9.4 billion rupees ($110 million). Google disagreed with this, and the case was soon brought to an appellate court. Eventually, the charges were upheld, although the fine was reduced by more than four times.
Interestingly, in 2023, Google made concessions for the Indian market and allowed developers to add third-party payment systems in apps for users in India.
Google has yet to comment on the court's verdict.