Paytm and other Indian startups are coming together to take on global tech giant Google, Reuters has reported. Their strategy would include lodging cases and complaints with the Court and the government. Google is accused of unfair practices that twists the market in its favour. Entrepreneurs have been meeting over video conferences over what is expected to be a bitter fight.
“It’s definitely going to be a bitter fight,” said Dinesh Agarwal, CEO of e-commerce firm IndiaMART. “Google will lose this battle. It’s just a matter of time.” Towards that end, a new ‘start-up association’ is sought to be formed whose primary task would be to lodge protests against the US company with the Government and the Courts. The idea of a rival app store was also floated but it was concluded that it wouldn’t be immediately effective.
The battle seems to have been sparked by a recent controversy when Google removed the Paytm app from its Play Store, alleging the app of policy violations. Paytm was soon restored but it did earn Google a strong rebuke from Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma. In a video call, he is reported to have said, “If we together don’t do anything, then history will not be kind to us. We have to control our digital destiny.”
Another incident that angered start-ups was Google’s decision to enforce a 30% commission on payments made within apps on the Android store. Google, however, does not see anything wrong with the decision saying that 97% of the apps comply with it. The tech giant already faces an antitrust case and a competition investigation but Google says it is compliant of all laws.
Recently, sharing an article that envisaged the end of the ‘American internet’, Vijay Shekhar Sharma said, “India will be a key builder of global technologies. Not just a market or importer. We will face retaliation by Big Tech, and that’s a confirmation of our importance and their dominance on world technology landscape. Our time is now.”