The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed a fine of Rs 136 crore ($21.17 million) on Google for Search bias and abuse for its position. The CCI claimed that Google, the core unit of Alphabet Inc. was abusing its dominance in web search and advertising markets in India.
The regulator said in an order of 190 page, “Google was found to be indulging in practices of search bias and by doing so, it causes harm to its competitors as well as to users.”
However, the CCI did not find any violation in respect of the Google’s Search design, online distribution engine. Google’s spokesperson said that Google is reviewing this concern of the Commission and will appraise the next steps. He further said, “We have always focused on innovating to support the evolving needs of our users. The Competition Commission of India has confirmed that, on the majority of issues it examined, our conduct complies with Indian competition laws. We are reviewing the narrow concerns identified by the Commission and will assess our next steps.”
The Indian commission found that Google placed its commercial flight search feature as a prominent position on the search page to gain market access. The commission decided to levy a fine of the 5 percent of the total average revenue of the company from Indian operations.
Naval Chopra, representing Bharat Matrimony in the case said that he was surprised by the fine amount to be this less. He further added, “Whilst finding Google to have abused its dominant position, the CCI has nonetheless exercised restraint in recognising the dynamic nature of online markets and not found Google guilty of every allegation.”
The CCI is also disappointed that Google was not able to accumulate the revenue data in the allotted time.
