Google agrees to restore Indian apps on Play Store: Vaishnaw

New Delhi: Google has agreed to restore delisted Indian apps on its Play Store and will work on a solution to the contentious payment issue, IT and Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Tuesday.

Google and startups had multiple rounds of discussion with the government on Monday, following which the tech giant agreed to restore the delisted apps. "We believe Google and the startup community will be able to arrive at a long-term solution in the coming months," the minister said.

Earlier Google faced a backlash from the startups who were protesting over its PlayStore billing system which was charging a 30% fee for using its payment system. This according to many was Google's arm-twisting tactics to dominate the Indian economy.

According to Anupam Mittal the founder of shaadi.com, in an interview with Livemint.com, "Google charges us 30% under Google Play Billing System – which comes into effect if we use their payment system. If you were to use an alternative payment system you would still have to pay the company 26%. Which effectively kills every business because we are already paying anywhere between 20% and 50% to Google for advertising on their app store. If you are somebody with under a million dollars in revenue then 15% will apply. But most of the value comes from 20% of developers who deliver around 80% of the value," he explained.

Mittal is one of the 40 members who had formed to coalesce against Google.