Should Indian startups take on global Internet giants?

Online payments company Paytm recently announced that it was building a ‘Mini App Store’ which would ‘empower Indian developers’. This move came days after Paytm was removed from Google’s Play Store over apparent violation of its policies. Though it was reinstated later, Paytm and several other Indian Internet startups allege that Google is using its market dominance to arbitrarily enforce policies and target competitors. The Play Store is the key app store for Google’s Android operating system, which runs over 90% of smartphones in India. Google also announced that it will start enforcing a 30% commission on all payments made for digital services in apps from its Play Store. Though the implementation of this plan has since been postponed to next year, it has caused much heartburn in the Indian startup environment. There is discontent brewing against tech giants in their home country as well, with a similar tussle going on between Apple and some game developers in the U.S., and the government readying an anti-trust lawsuit against Google. Is the Indian startup ecosystem is ready to take on the giants on whom they are dependent for crucial infrastructure?

Guests

Jayadevan P.K. is a startup founder and writes on technology. He now works on brand building for startups.

Thillai Rajan is a Professor in the Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

Host

P.J. George, Deputy Internet Editor, The Hindu

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