Amid ongoing legal battles with the Competition Commission of India (CCI), tech giant Google has leveled accusations against the antitrust watchdog, alleging favoritism towards ecommerce giant Amazon. In a filing with the Supreme Court, Google claimed that the CCI had asked it to modify its business model solely to protect Amazon, which had complained about the challenges it faced in developing a modified version of the Android system due to Google’s restrictions.
Google recently filed an appeal in the Supreme Court challenging the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s (NCLAT’s) decision to uphold the INR 1,338 crore penalty imposed on it by the CCI. Last year, the CCI had fined Google INR 1,337.7 crore for abusing its dominant position in the Android devices market and imposed an additional fine of INR 936 crore for its Play Store policies.
Google criticized the NCLAT’s ruling, claiming that the tribunal failed to consider key aspects of the CCI’s decision, particularly regarding proving harm resulting from anti-competitive behavior.
During the CCI’s investigation into the Android case, Amazon informed the antitrust watchdog that Google’s restrictions hindered the development of its Android fork, known as Fire OS. Google alleged in its Supreme Court filing that the CCI unjustly relied on Amazon’s statement to reach an adverse decision against Google.
Google further argued that Fire OS had faced commercial failure globally due to poor user experience, and in India, the Fire Phone was not even launched. Consequently, Google claimed that the CCI wrongly attributed Amazon’s lack of competitiveness in India to its agreements with Google.
This is not the first time Google has made serious allegations against the CCI. The US-based company, currently at odds with Indian regulators, previously accused the CCI of replicating the European Union’s order on market dominance in its ruling against Google in the Android case.
In addition to its disputes with Indian regulators, Google is entangled in a legal battle with Indian startups concerning its user choice billing system. The company’s confrontations with the CCI and other Indian entities reflect the increasing scrutiny faced by tech giants in the country’s rapidly growing digital market.
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