Google India | Business Upturn

Government planning to take action against Google for abuse of market position

News Desk — Fri, 19 May 2023 19:01:42 +0000

An antitrust watchdog in India ruled that Google had abused its market position by engaging in anti-competitive practices last year. As a result of this finding, the Indian government intends to take action against Alphabet’s Google, according to a senior IT minister who spoke with Reuters.

In October, India’s antitrust agency handed Google a punishment of approximately Rs. 2,280 crores (equivalent to $275 million) for abusing its dominating position in the Android operating system market and pressuring developers to utilize its in-app payment system. The cases concerned Google misusing its strong position in the Android operating system market.

In an interview with Reuters held at the IT ministry in New Delhi, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the federal deputy minister for information technology, said that such results are “serious” and cause “deep concern” to India’s federal government, which would take its own measures against Google.

Chandrasekhar said that action needed to be taken by the ministry. “We have given it some serious consideration. It will become clear to you in the next weeks. Without a doubt, this is not something that we are going to ignore or try to sweep under the rug.

The minister did not provide any specifics about the kinds of regulatory or policy actions that the government may take.

Chandrasekhar, who is one of the highest-ranking officials in the administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said that the situation “is worrisome, not just for us, but it’s worrisome for the entire digital ecosystem in India.” Chandrasekhar is one of the highest-ranking officials in the administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In response to a request for comment on the minister’s statements, Google did not provide one. When Chandrasekhar was asked whether he had discussed the matter with Google, he responded by saying that “there is no need for any discussion.” There is a conclusion reached by a court.”

While the case of the payment is still being appealed, in March, an Indian tribunal declared in response to a legal challenge that the Competition Commission of India’s conclusions of Google’s anti-competitive behavior in the Android market was accurate. This was despite the fact that the case of the payment is still being appealed.

The minister’s remarks came as tensions are rising between Indian firms and Google, which is the context in which they were made.

After allegations from Tinder’s owner Match Group and a number of startups that a new service charge scheme Google utilizes for in-app payments infringes the competition commission’s October judgment, India’s competition watchdog has opened a fresh investigation into Google’s business practices.

Google has said in the past that the service charge is used to fund investments in the Google Play app store and the Android mobile operating system, which enables the company to provide both for free distribution.

Even though Google cautioned that “no other jurisdiction has ever asked for such far-reaching changes,” it was obliged to make significant adjustments to the way it advertises its mobile operating system in the nation as a result of the Android antitrust judgment in India.

There are around 620 million cell phones in India, and approximately 97 percent of them run on Android. The firm views India as a vital growth area.

There have been lawsuits filed against other businesses in India, including Apple and Amazon, on the grounds that they may have engaged in practices that are anti-competitive. Chandrasekhar said that the government of India was eager to take action to defend India’s digital economy.

“We don’t want it to be growth in a way that distorts consumer choice or free competition,” he added. “We don’t want it to be growth in a way that distorts consumer choice.”

“We will without a doubt be looking into what the government needs to do in order to prevent anyone, including but not limited to Google, from abusing their market power or market dominance,”

LPU student bags 64.5 lakh package with Google

News Desk — Sat, 28 May 2022 10:16:26 +0000

LPU BTech CSE engineering student Harekrishna Mahto, has been hired by Google India at a salary of 64.50 lakh. He will be joining the company’s Bangalore office shortly. This is one of the most generous packages ever given to a student in the country.

In addition, the world’s top AI talent intelligence platform recently hired Arjun, an LPU BTech CSE 2022 passed out batch student, for INR 62.72 Lakh. He will also be based in Bangalore, India.

It’s worth noting that LPU has broken its own record with this package, which is 1.5 times (50 percent) higher than the previous year’s high of INR 42 Lakh for a fresher. Amazon has also hired LPU students for a salary of INR 46.4 Lakh. Previously, Google chose an LPU student for INR 48 lakh.

Good Placements At LPU:

The majority of the top students were offered packages ranging from INR 10 to INR 48 lakh by top international companies such as Amazon, Google, VMware, Lowe’s, Infineon, Target, Bajaj Fineserv, What fix, ZS Associates, Zscaler, Practo, Palo Alto, and others.

Cognizant recruited 670+ students, Capgemini recruited 310+, Wipro recruited 310+, MPhasis recruited 210+, Accenture recruited 150+, and Lead Squared recruited 150+, among others, at differential packages of 6.75 lakh and 10 lakhs.

Top recruiters have offered over 20,000 placements/internships to LPU students in recent years. Several Fortune 500 corporations have extended over 5000 offers.

Many LPU alumni are currently employed by top companies around the world, such as Google, Microsoft, and other Silicon Valley firms, for a salary of INR one crore.

Google is acting like a ‘super-regulator’ says Indian fintech lenders

Devanshu Singla — Mon, 18 Jan 2021 06:53:49 +0000

Google reviewed hundreds of money loan apps from its online Play Store in India, and immediately removed those who were found breaching user safety policies from the Play Store. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had ordered Google to take them off the app store.

Earlier, Google had said Play Store would only allow personal loan apps that demand borrowers to repay loans after 60 days or more, adding that its policies need instant loan apps to disclose the minimum and maximum periods of repayment, the maximum annual percentage rate, and a representative example of the total loan cost.

Indian fintech lenders seemed unhappy with the internet giant’s latest directives to provide credentials, and they have written to the Google mentioning the names of Chinese apps that have a week to 14-day products while its rules of not allowing lenders giving short-tenure loans of less than 60 days. Digital lending companies believe Google is acting like a super-regulator, seeking details that even the banking regulator does not ask for.

“We have written to Google on the need for uniform regulations among fintech players, Google says you can’t have a lending product which is less than 60 days while all these apps had 7-14 day products,” a member of FACE (Fintech Association for Customer Empowerment), told ET.

The member, on the condition of anonymity, further stated that a majority of these apps are China-led companies. “We have approached Google on why these China-led apps are allowed to run while we have such restrictions. We have also written to Google with names of these Chinese-led companies,” the financial daily quoted him as saying.

Google to shutdown Google Cloud Print this week

Devanshu Singla — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 06:24:50 +0000

This week, Google will officially shut its Google Cloud Print, a cloud-based printing service.

The tech giant had announced the development earlier this year.

“Google Cloud Print, Google’s cloud-based printing solution will no longer be supported as of December 31, 2020. Beginning January 1, 2021, devices across all operating systems will not be able to print using Cloud Print. We recommend that you find an alternative print solution with your respective platform’s printing infrastructure,” reads a Google support page for the service.

Google had shut support for the ‘Save to Drive’ option available with the Cloud Print this month for Windows, macOS, and Linux devices.

Users can shift to other printing options on the cloud or use alternatives such as Mobility Print service, as suggested by Android Police.

The tech giant had launched Google Cloud Print back in 2010. Users can print documents using the service by connecting to printers either through the Google Chrome browsers on PC or mobile, or cloud-based printer through the internet.

The service that was never out of the beta stage was introduced when Google’s Chrome OS devices lacked good printing options, Engadget reported. Google in 2017 introduced a native printing solution for ChromeOS that lets users print documents from their Chromebook using printers that connect to Wi-Fi or a wired network