ADIF roundup: We moved the CCI against Google's PlayStore policy, tips for entrepreneurs on raising funds, and more
ADIF roundup: We moved the CCI against Google's PlayStore policy, tips for entrepreneurs on raising funds, and more
ADIF’s work and latest activities
Our petition to the Competition Commission of India against Google. Through our lawyers at Sarvada Legal, we have sought interim relief from Google’s new PlayStore policy which goes into effect from March 2022.
The relief has been sought on behalf of app developers as Google’s new policy will mandate certain categories of apps – fitness, education, SaaS, OTT, gaming and others – to use only the Google Billing System (GBS) for accepting payments.
Read the full release here.
Breaking down ADIF's petition to the CCI against Google. ADIF’s petition has stated that the 30% commission charged by Google is extremely high and unfair.
However, the core issue is the mandatory imposition of the Google Play Billing system and the exclusion of other methods of payment.
Read the full explainer here.
Before we move on, it would be great if you could help spread the work on our petition by retweeting this and this.
'Seed rounds tend to be the toughest as investors are essentially backing your vision': The first ADIF Chatroom on ‘Fundraising Stories’ was held on Twitter Spaces on September 23 and focused on the investing ecosystem. During the session, founders talked about the various funding rounds, how the ecosystem has changed over the years, how to decide between bootstrapping vs fundraising, and much more.
Listen to the full discussion here.
Apple is abusing its market power in the app economy: Dutch antitrust authority. The decision by the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) is a clear indictment of the abuse of dominance by Apple in the app economy and the first instance of an antitrust regulator calling out Apple for its anti-competitive AppStore practices.
ADIF hailed the move and anticipates cascading effects in antitrust challenges against tech giants.
India’s unique opportunity to act as a modern-day peacekeeper after South Korea’s action of Apple and Google. ADIF’s Executive Director, Sijo Kuruvilla George wrote an op-ed on how given the size and significance of the Indian market, any legislative action will significantly influence and determine the rules governing the global app economy. If Google were to roll out a set of policies in India, say as a result of legislative action, given the global nature of app stores, it would be prudent for the company to release the same terms and benefits to all their developers and customers across the globe.
In the long run, it is not ex post facto fines but proactive and progressive legislative efforts that will nurture and nourish a healthy, innovative and competitive ecosystem.
Read the full op-ed here.
Our alliance is growing bigger and stronger
ADIF’s alliance is now over 400-member strong and we are eager to have each and everyone who is vested in the success of the Indian startup ecosystem as a part of our alliance.
Find out more about our org members here.
Find out more about our individual members here.
Should you have any suggestions on who can join our network, feel free to reach out to Jibin, who oversees Startup Relations at ADIF, at jj@adif.in.
ADIF in the news
Nishant Arora, the technology editor at IANS wrote a comprehensive feature story on our work in the anti-trust space and the need for proactive enabling legislation for protecting our tech firms.
Our stance on SEBI’s move to ease differential voting rights also made the news.
Follow us
We’d like to invite you to be a part of our social media network to stay up to date on our progress and the digital startup ecosystem. You can follow us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
We’d also love for you to help amplify our voice by engaging with our posts and liking/re-tweeting them.
That’s all for this time, thank you for reading!
We look forward to your feedback to improve this newsletter and make it more relevant to you. You can e-mail me at amanat@adif.in.
Regards,
Amanat Khullar
Content & Editorial, ADIF