Home-grown startup founders on Thursday hailed the Supreme Court’s order where it refused to interfere with the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) decision, declining to stay the operation of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) order imposing a Rs 1,337.76 crore fine on Google.
Google had moved the apex court after the setback at the NCLAT, which did not stay the CCI order on abuse of dominant position in multiple markets in the Android mobile device ecosystem case.
Rohan Verma, CEO, and ED at homegrown MapmyIndia said that they are extremely grateful to the Supreme Court for their order against Google’s appeal.
“MapmyIndia was mentioned and spoken of multiple times in the Supreme court today by multiple parties, who said that MapmyIndia pioneered digital mapping in India since 1995, far before the birth of Google, and offer an alternative in terms of MapmyIndia’s ‘Mappls’ app versus the force pre-installed Google Maps,” Verma added.
It was discussed in the court how Google foreclosed rivals such as MapmyIndia due to their anti-competitive practices, harming Indian consumers’ ability to choose, and harming the Indian economy and rivals such as MapmyIndia.
The Supreme Court in the end declined Google’s arguments.
Google was yet to react to the apex court ruling.
On January 11, the Supreme Court agreed to examine an appeal by Google against a decision by the NCLAT.
Verma hoped that after the SC ruling, consumers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) will now use ‘Mappls’ app, which “offers far better maps, navigation and safety features than Google Maps”.
Rakesh Deshmukh, Co-founder, and CEO, of Indus OS, had said that in its ruling, the CCI categorically demonstrated multiple anti-competitive actions carried out by Google in the last decade.
“In fact, it scuttled Indian entrepreneurs in the Android ecosystem with unfair and restrictive Google policies. The CCI ruling against Google is a step towards ushering in the next phase of a digital revolution in the country,” he said.
