CCI fined Google Rs 1337.76 crore in October for abusing its dominant position in the Android market.
American multinational tech giant Google on Friday said to cooperate with the Competition Commission of India after the company lost its fight in Supreme Court to block the competition authority’s order. The apex court on Thursday refused to grant Google an interim stay on the Rs 1337.76-crore penalty imposed by the CCI and gave the company seven days to comply with the directives.
“We remain committed to our users and partners and will cooperate with the CCI on the way forward,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters. “We are reviewing the details of yesterday’s decision which is limited to interim relief and did not decide the merits of our appeal.”
Further, the Supreme Court also asked the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal to pass its verdict by March 31. “The findings by the CCI cannot be said to be without jurisdiction or with manifest error. We affirm the order of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal declining interim order,” a bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice P.S. Narasimha, and Justice J.B. Pardiwala said and as read on The Telegraph.
Before going to the apex court, Google first approached the NCLAT, where the authority ordered the company to pay 10 percent of the Rs 1337.76 crore worth of penalty imposed by CCI as an interim measure.
CCI fined Google Rs 1337.76 crore in October for abusing its dominant position by forcefully entering “one-sided agreements” with Android mobile makers to ensure the dominance of its apps and search engine. This has denied rivals the chance to innovate and compete on their merits, the CCI noted.
In the same week that month, CCI again fined Google Rs 936.44 crores for abusing its market position on Play Store to promote its payments app and in-app payment system.
