The Supreme Court of India has declined to stay the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI’s) order that asked Google to make changes by January 19, 2023 to its Android ecosystem. Further, the court has asked the search engine if it is willing to put the same regime in India as it did abroad and if the anti-trust directions are inconsistent with the steps it had taken.
A bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud posed these queries to senior counsel AM Singhvi, appearing for Google, which has challenged the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s (NCLAT’s) January 4, 2023 order that refused to stay a Rs 13.37 billion penalty imposed by CCI for alleged anti-competitive practices. General R Venkataraman, additional solicitor, appearing for CCI and Mukul Rohatgi, senior counsel, on behalf of OSLabs Technology, told the bench that Google was discriminating India by treating differently.
Meanwhile, Google has been claiming that it had been operating the Android mobile platform for last 15 years and the recent changes as directed by the anti-trust order will lead to lasting and irreparable harm to it, device manufacturers, Indian consumers, app developers, and the wider Indian economy. Seeking quashing of the CCI’s findings, directions and the penalty, Google said the CCI’s order was patently erroneous and ignored the reality of competition in India, its procompetitive business model, and the benefits created for all stakeholders.
