The Indian government has disclosed that the country plans to probe Alphabet’s Google after an antitrust panel ruled the company engaged in anti-competitive practises last year.
In October, India’s antitrust agency fined the tech firm $275 million for abusing its dominance in the Android operating system market and also pressuring developers to utilise its in-app payment mechanism.
In an interview at the IT ministry in New Delhi, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the federal deputy minister for information technology, told Reuters that such discoveries are “serious” and cause “deep concern” to India’s federal government, which will take its own measures against Google.
“The ministry has to take action,” Chandrasekhar said.
“We have thought through it. You will see it in the coming weeks. Certainly it’s not something that we will leave and push under the carpet,” he added.
The minister’s remarks come amid increased hostility between Indian companies and Google.
India’s competition watchdog has launched a new investigation into Google after Tinder owner Match Group and a number of startups claimed that a new service fee mechanism used by Google for in-app purchases violates the competition commission’s October judgment.
Android powers almost 97% of India’s 620 million cell phones, and the company sees India as a major growth area.