Govt has assured us support on Google's new Play Store policy: Startup founders

New Delhi, March 4 (IANS) Continuing their fight against Google’s new Play Store policies, Indian startup founders on Monday met Union IT and Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar to discuss the issue and said that the government has assured them support.  

During the ADIF (Alliance of Digital India Foundation) conference, the founders told reporters here that "the government have given them assurance that they will do everything that they can and they will make sure that Indian startups are not impacted by Google's policies".

Last week, Google delisted about a dozen apps by major Indian digital companies including Matrimony, and Shaadi.com from the Play Store.

The move comes after Google announced its plan to take action against 10 developers who had refused to comply with its payment policy, despite following the payment policies of other app stores.

The founders further said that their business dropped by around 40 per cent on the second day after their apps were delisted.

"We are not acquiring new customers right now. There is a 100 per cent halt, no new revenue is coming in because we cannot acquire new customers".

Chandrasekhar also took to X, saying: "Today, startups presented their concerns regarding a few policies of @google. Assured them that @GoI_MeitY will take it up with Google for a sustainable and long-term solution".

He further mentioned that there has been a deep and decisive transformation in India’s startup ecosystem over the past 10 years. From fewer startups in 2014, the country now has more than 1 lakh startups and 113 unicorns, with the potential to add 10 lakh startups and 10,000 unicorns in the coming decade.

--IANS

shs/vd