Play Store service fee lowest among peers: Google  

Google on Wednesday said its Play Store service fee is lowest among major app stores and only a fraction of developers in India pay the charges. The company said developers largely pay a service fee of 15% or less due to a range of pricing programmes Google Play offers. According to Google, less than 60 of the over 200,000 Indian developers on Google Play currently pay a service fee of above 15%, and this fee is further reduced by 4% if a user pays through an alternative billing system.Google’s statement came after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) started an antitrust investigation amid allegations by startups on Google that it is violating its in-app billing system.

“We’re respectfully following the CCI’s October 2022 order, and in compliance with that order, we expanded user choice billing to all developers in India and updated our policy that went into effect starting April 26, 2023,” Google said in a blog. “In India, now that the deadline has passed, we are informing developers in the country who have not yet implemented one of these options that we will be taking necessary steps to ensure our policy is applied fairly,” Google added.Last month, the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF), a digital startup policy think tank said an 11-26% service fee for in-app purschases will be a death knell for the Indian startup ecosystem.

According to ADIF, developers currently pay a service fee ranging 10-30% for using in-app purchases and subscriptions by their consumers on Google Play, whereas if the developers choose an alternate billing system from April 26 then they will have to pay 11-26% to Google.Despite not using services from Google, the developers would have to pay a service fee to Google, the ADIF said.”Our investments in Android and Google Play have helped Indian developers create jobs, go to market faster, grow financially, and reach global audiences. We fund these investments in part through a service fee applied when a developer on Google Play sells in-app digital goods or services,” Google said.

“We think it is a sensible model as the platform only makes money when a developer makes money, so our success is aligned with theirs,” the company added.Apart from the Rs 1,337 crore fine on the company for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the Android market, CCI also imposed another Rs 937 crore  for abusing its dominant position with regard to its Play Store policies.In December last year, both Apple and Google told the parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance that the majority of the app developers do not pay a commission to them for using their respective app stores. Google said that 97% of developers on its play store can distribute their apps and utilise the services at no cost.

Google on Wednesday said its Play Store service fee is lowest among major app stores and only a fraction of developers in India pay the charges. The company said developers largely pay a service fee of 15% or less due to a range of pricing programmes Google Play offers. According to Google, less than 60 of the over 200,000 Indian developers on Google Play currently pay a service fee of above 15%, and this fee is further reduced by 4% if a user pays through an alternative billing system.Google’s statement came after the Competition Commission of India (CCI) started an antitrust investigation amid allegations by startups on Google that it is violating its in-app billing system.

“We’re respectfully following the CCI’s October 2022 order, and in compliance with that order, we expanded user choice billing to all developers in India and updated our policy that went into effect starting April 26, 2023,” Google said in a blog. “In India, now that the deadline has passed, we are informing developers in the country who have not yet implemented one of these options that we will be taking necessary steps to ensure our policy is applied fairly,” Google added.Last month, the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF), a digital startup policy think tank said an 11-26% service fee for in-app purschases will be a death knell for the Indian startup ecosystem.

According to ADIF, developers currently pay a service fee ranging 10-30% for using in-app purchases and subscriptions by their consumers on Google Play, whereas if the developers choose an alternate billing system from April 26 then they will have to pay 11-26% to Google.Despite not using services from Google, the developers would have to pay a service fee to Google, the ADIF said.”Our investments in Android and Google Play have helped Indian developers create jobs, go to market faster, grow financially, and reach global audiences. We fund these investments in part through a service fee applied when a developer on Google Play sells in-app digital goods or services,” Google said.

“We think it is a sensible model as the platform only makes money when a developer makes money, so our success is aligned with theirs,” the company added.Apart from the Rs 1,337 crore fine on the company for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the Android market, CCI also imposed another Rs 937 crore  for abusing its dominant position with regard to its Play Store policies.In December last year, both Apple and Google told the parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance that the majority of the app developers do not pay a commission to them for using their respective app stores. Google said that 97% of developers on its play store can distribute their apps and utilise the services at no cost.