Google does not exclude third party browsers; CCI levied ₹1,337 crore fine without analysis or reason: Google to NCLAT

Google told the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Thursday that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) order imposing a fine of ₹1,337.76 crore on it for allegedly misusing its dominant position in the Android ecosystem is unreasoned and without any basis..Appearing for Google, Senior Advocate Arun Kathpalia said that the Commission's order was without any inquiry or analysis.Kathpalia alluded to the CCI's findings on the issue of Google allegedly using its dominant position in the Android ecosystem to push Google Chrome. He said that the CCI arrived at this finding without ever posing the question to the users.“They (CCI) say Google apps can only be disabled. The question then is how much additional space the uninstallation will free, and if disabling slows up device. There is not an iota of finding on this. There is no inquiry or analysis on whether this has any effect on running of the device,” he argued..The Bench of NCLAT Chairperson Justice Ashok Bhushan and Dr Alok Srivastava, Member (Technical) was hearing submissions in Google's challenge to the CCI order passed in October last year. The Appellate Tribunal had earlier refused to grant any interim relief to the tech giant. The matter then travelled to the Supreme Court, which also denied relief to Google. The NCLAT has since been hearing the appeal on a day-to-day basis. .During his arguments, Kathpalia said that the CCI itself has recognised that Google’s Mobile Application Distribution Agreement (MADA) is beneficial to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).Once it is recognised there can be no imposition of unfair terms, OEMs are free to install any other browser on the system, and unlike Apple devices till 2020, Google Chrome is not mandatorily the default browser on Android systems, he said.Kathpalia also refuted the argument that Google poses any barriers on third party browsers being installed on the Android system. He cited the example of UC Browser to state that in the first six months of 2020, the browser was downloaded over 104 million times.“The charge against me is by pre-installing Google Chrome, I am ousting somebody. The ban was imposed on UC Browser in June 2020. In the first six months of that year, the app was downloaded over 104 million times. The figure is from Google Play Store. Can we even countenance that there is an exclusion on account of my MADA? None of this has been considered in the CCI order.”.After hearing Kathpalia for nearly two hours, the Bench said that it will continue tomorrow. .Apart from imposing a monetary penalty, the CCI had also directed Google to cease and desist from participating in anti-competitive practices and directed it to modify its conduct within a defined timeline.The Commission examined various practices of Google in relation to licensing of the Android mobile operating system and several of its mobile applications such as the Play Store, Google Search, Google Chrome, YouTube etc.Based on its assessment, the Commission found Google to be dominant in all the relevant markets.The competition watchdog said that Google's multiple agreements governing the rights and obligations of smart device OEMs result in a significant competitive to the US tech giant.The underlying objective of Google in imposing various restrictions the agreements was to protect and strengthen its dominant position in general search services, and thus, its revenues via search advertisements, the Commission concluded.It added that the markets should be allowed to compete on merits and the onus was on the dominant players to show that its conduct does not impinge this competition on merits."By virtue of the agreements discussed above, Google ensured that users continue to use its search services on mobile devices which facilitated un-interrupted growth of advertisement revenue for Google," it had held..Read the detailed story on CCI's order here: