Google to Remove Popular Indian Apps from Play Store for Policy Violations

Google LLC has warned that it will be forced to pull out at least 10 Indian apps from its Play Store due to non-compliance with its policies. Some apps affected may include the most popular ones in the country.

Apps at Risk of Removal from the Play Store

As per The Indian Express, Google warned Indian app developers via a blog post, telling them about their non-compliance with the app marketplace's rules. For this, the tech giant owned by Alphabet Inc. said it may take down their applications from the platform.

Then again, Google did not release specific names of companies that have violated the Play Store's policies and could be booted out. The warning came after the Supreme Court agreed to hear the petitions of some startups against Google's billing policies early last month.

However, Indian Chief Justice DY Chandrachud reportedly refused to pass a provisional order to protect the startups from being removed from Google's Play Store. Thus, the company is free to exclude them if deemed appropriate.

"After giving these developers more than three years to prepare, including three weeks after the Supreme Court's order, we are taking necessary steps to ensure our policies are applied consistently across the ecosystem, as we do for any form of policy violation globally," Google said in the blog post.

Apps Deletion Has Started

Reuters reported that after Google received a green light to charge fees or remove apps earlier this year, it deleted some Indian apps, including Matrimony.com dating apps Bharat Matrimony, Muslim Matrimony, Christian Matrimony, and Jodii.

They were taken down just last week, which was confirmed by the app developer's founder, Murugavel Janakiraman. Finally, for what happened, he described Google's move as the "dark day of Indian Internet" as their apps are being removed one by one.

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