Google has abused the dominant position of Android in India to illegally hurt competitors in the world’s second largest internet market, a two-year antitrust probe by nation’s watchdog has found.
The Android-maker reduced device manufacturing firms’ ability and incentive to develop and sell devices operating on alternative versions of Android, the probe found, according to two people have have been briefed on the findings.
Additionally, the report found Google’s move to make it mandatory for device manufacturers to pre-install its apps a violation of India’s competition law.
More than five dozen firms including Amazon and Apple responded to queries from the Indian watchdog — the Competition Commission of India — during the course of the investigation, the report said.
The Indian watchdog also found issues with the way Google has enforced policies on Play Store, saying those are “one-sided, ambiguous, vague, biased and arbitrary.”
Google said it looks forward to engage with the CCI to demonstrate how “Android has led to more competition and innovation, not less.”
The report’s findings — which are yet to be formally published by the CCI — is the latest setback for Google in India, where it has faced strong criticism from local entrepreneurs in recent quarters and several other antitrust probes.
The Alliance of Digital India Foundation, a group of 350 startups, founders and investors, lauded the CCI report’s findings and said the watchdog’s step “is in line with the Indian digital ecosystem’s needs.”
