On Thursday, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) levied a penalty of Rs 1,337.76 crore on Google for ostensibly abusing its governing position in multiple markets in the Android mobile device ecosystem and violating Section 4 of the Competition Act. The CCI also issued cease and desist order against Google, enquiring it to refrain from unfair business practices, and directed the tech giant to transform its conduct within a defined timeline.

Google is given 30 days to provide the requisite financial details and supporting documents. Google’s Android is the dominant Operating System (OS) for smartphones in India and worldwide. The only rivalry is from Apple’s iOS. The unfair practices included the market for licensable OS for intelligent mobile devices, the app store for Android smart mobile OS, the market for general web search services, the market for non-OS specific mobile web browsers, and the Online Video Hosting Platform (OVHP).

The CCI has concluded that obligatory pre-installation of the entire Google Mobile Suite (GMS) under the Mobile Application and Distribution Agreement (MADA) with no option to uninstall it, its prominent placement totals to the imposition of unfair conditions on device manufacturers and, contravenes provisions of Section 4(2) (a) (i) of the Competition Act, dealing with abuse of dominant position.

The CCI has recommended Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) should not be controlled from choosing from Google’s proprietary applications to be pre-installed. Besides, they shouldn’t be forced to pre-install a bouquet of applications, being allowed to decide on the placement of the pre-installed app on their smart devices.

The CCI noted, “Apple’s business is based on a vertically unified smart device ecosystem, focusing on selling high-end smart devices with state-of-the-art software machinery. Whereas Google’s business was driven by the ultimate intent of growing users on its platforms to interact with an online search which affects the sale of online advertising services by Google.”