The American technology major was fined by the Indian anti-trust watchdog in October 2022 for alleged anti-competitive practices pertaining to Android mobile devices and was asked to stop and abstain from improper business practices and change its conduct within a defined timeline
Google was fined $161m by the Competition Commission of India in October 2022. (Credit: Grendelkhan/Wikimedia Commons)
Google is reportedly challenging a fine of INR13.37bn ($161m) imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in the Supreme Court of India.
The legal challenge follows the setback suffered by the internet company last week after the rejection of an appeals tribunal of its request to scrap the antitrust ruling, reported Reuters, citing court records seen by it.
According to the news agency, the apex court’s records reveal the filing of a challenge by Google against the tribunal ruling. However, the court is yet to fix a hearing date.
The two-member appeals tribunal said that it opines that owing to the voluminous nature of the appeal, there is no need to give any interim order at that moment.
Google was fined by the CCI in October 2022 for alleged anti-competitive practices pertaining to Android mobile devices.
The internet major’s argument is that implementation of the directives of the Indian anti-trust watchdog will harm its long-standing business model as well as consumer interests.
The CCI at the time of imposing the fine stated that the mandatory pre-installation of the entire Google Mobile Suite (GMS) under Mobile Application Distribution Agreement (MADA), without any choice to uninstall, breaches competition law.
Google has been found by the regulator to be dominating all the five relevant markets in its investigation. These include the licencing of mobile operating system, the Android app store market, non-operating system specific mobile web browsers, general web search services, and online video hosting services.
It was ordered by the CCI to stop and abstain from improper business practices along with directing it to change its conduct within a defined timeline.
The news agency citing an undisclosed source, previously reported that Google is of the opinion that it cannot implement some of the directives set by the regulator. The company is said to have come to the conclusion that there is no other option but to go to the Supreme Court to get relief from the CCI fine and directives.