Abuse of Dominance: The Google Android Case

What counts as abusing a dominant position under Indian law, illustrated by the CCI's landmark cases against Google.

Being the biggest firm in a market is not illegal. But a dominant firm must not abuse its position to harm competition or consumers.

What is dominance?

A firm is dominant if it can act largely independently of competitors and customers in a relevant market. The CCI considers market share, the size of rivals, barriers to entry and consumers’ dependence.

Types of abuse under Indian law

Imposing unfair or discriminatory prices or conditions.
Limiting production or technical development.
Denying market access to rivals.
Tying: requiring customers to buy one product to get another.
Using dominance in one market to enter or protect another.
Predatory pricing.

The Google Android case

In October 2022, the CCI issued two major orders against Google:

Android: Google required phone makers that wanted to pre-install its Play Store to also pre-install a bundle of Google apps, such as Search and Chrome, and restricted them from making phones with modified versions of Android. The CCI found this was an abuse of dominance and imposed a penalty of about 1,338 crore rupees, along with orders to change its practices.
Play Store billing: the CCI found that Google’s requirement for app developers to use its billing system for paid apps and in-app purchases was abusive and imposed a separate penalty.

Google appealed. The NCLAT largely upheld the Android findings in 2023 while setting aside some directions, and further appeals went to the Supreme Court.

Why it matters

Android runs on the vast majority of smartphones in India. The case changed how Google licenses Android and allowed users more choice of default search engines.

Global context

The European Commission fined Google over 4 billion euros in 2018 for similar Android practices. Many countries are examining how large digital platforms use dominance.

The default app

A phone maker wants to install the Play Store, which users expect. But to do so, it must also install and prominently place Google Search and other apps. A rival search engine finds it almost impossible to become the default. Competition authorities saw this as using dominance to protect other businesses.

Thinking dominance itself is illegal

Firms can become dominant through better products. Competition law targets abusive conduct, not dominance alone.

Key takeaways

Dominance is legal; abusing it is not.
Abuses include unfair conditions, denying market access, tying and leveraging.
In 2022, the CCI penalised Google over Android and Play Store billing practices.
The case changed Android licensing and default choices in India.