Google’s Play Store policy isn’t simply about toll charges

Late last week, news broke of a virtual meeting that had been convened by doyens of the Indian startup ecosystem. Ordinarily, there wouldn’t have been anything remarkable about this meeting had it not become such a rallying call for the Indian developer community against the changes that Google was looking to implement to its Play Store policy. After years of forbearance, all apps downloaded from its Play Store were going to be required to route their revenues through that store and pay a 30% fee to Google as well.

Digital service providers in India receive much of their revenue from subscriptions, in-app purchases, the sale of virtual items and the like. Small wonder that this change in policy gave rise to widespread consternation. Android developers use built-in browsers for payments so that the entire value of their revenue accrues to them. If all purchases now have to be routed through Google Play Store—and subject to a 30% cut—they stand to lose a sizeable chunk of their intake. In the words of one of the startups, this would be the “death knell” for digital companies in India.