India's competition watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) has launched an anti-trust probe against Google amid allegations that the search giant unfairly promoted its own payments application through prominent placement on the Play Store.
According to media reports, Google is also charged with "imposing unfair terms on users by requiring them to use Google Pay, which is not in compliance with the data localisation directive issued by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the guidelines issued by NPCI".
An initiative of India’s top bank RBI and the Indian Banks' Association (IBA), the National Payments Council of India (NPCI) exists as an online payment settlement organisation in the country.
A notice pertaining to the allegations was sent by the CCI to Google in May this year and a detailed investigation has now been initiated.
Earlier, Indian payment startups like PayTm and Razorpay had raised concerns on the fact that Google was making it mandatory to use its applications for transactions made on Play Store.
In fact, last month a group of start-up executives reportedly held a meeting with the CCI and apprised the regulator about Google's anti-competitive policies in the country.
