The Competition Commission of India (CCI), a statutory body that looks into antitrust claims, has started probing into a claim against Google Pay (Gpay). According to a news report, the agency has already called in rival payment firms, including PhonePe and Paytm Payments Bank, as part of the investigation.
The investigation is to find out if Google’s digital payment platform has abused its dominance in India’s digital payments market. CCI wants to find out if Google is giving users the choice to pay through payment platforms other than Gpay, and if it is imposing unjust restrictions on users using other payment platforms. CCI will also check if Google is abiding by the government’s zero-merchant discount rate (MDR) policy, stated the news report.
The market watchdog had ordered for this investigation in November 2020. However, the formal investigation began in January with the appointment of an additional director general in the antitrust case.
Even as India investigates Gpay, many countries across the world, including the US, have conducted investigations into Google on antitrust claims in the past. The European Commission has even levied billions of dollars in fines on Google in various cases.
