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New Delhi: Google began removing the apps of 10 companies in India on Friday, including some popular matrimony apps such as Bharat Matrimony, in a dispute over service fee payments, potentially sparking a showdown with startup firms.
Matrimony.com dating apps Bharat Matrimony, Christian Matrimony, Muslim Matrimony and Jodii were deleted on Friday, company founder Murugavel Janakiraman said, describing the move as a “dark day of Indian Internet”.
“Our apps are getting deleted one by one”.
The dispute centres on efforts by some Indian startups to stop Google from imposing a fee of 11% to 26% on in-app payments, after the country’s antitrust authorities ordered it to dismantle an earlier system of charging 15% to 30%.
But Google effectively received a go-ahead to charge the fee or remove apps after two court decisions in January and February, one by the Supreme Court, not to give any relief to startups.
The unit of Alphabet Inc has sent notices of Play Store violations to Indian companies Matrimony.com, which runs the app BharatMatrimony, and Info Edge, which runs a similar app, Jeevansathi.
Both companies are reviewing the notice and will consider next steps, their executives told Reuters.
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