Paytm, GOQii, Dream11 founders take Google fight to government

BENGALURU: Several of India’s top startup entrepreneurs met virtually with government officials on Saturday to escalate their concerns over American internet major Google’s billing policies and dominance of the country’s digital applications market, multiple people privy to discussions told ET.
Nearly forty entrepreneurs including Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma, GOQii’s Vishal Gondal, Anand Lunia of India Quotient and Gautam Mago of A91 Partners, as well as the founders of Innov8, Bharat Matrimony, upGrad, Dream11, and TrulyMadly presented their views to the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) secretary Ajay Sawhney, who chaired the meeting, sources said. “The short-term issue is Google’s billing policy. The long-term issue is Google’s 95% control of the app ecosystem. They dominate the Internet in India,” said BharatMatrimony Group’s CEO Murugavel Janakiraman.
“It is like Google is the emperor and all the (Indian) internet companies are its slaves. We will decide what’s the next step,” he said.