"The Competition Commission of India (CCI)’s recent directives for Android and Play require us to make significant changes for India, and today we’ve informed the CCI of how we will be complying with their directives," Google announced in a blog post dated January 25, one day before the extended deadline to comply with CCI's orders. The competition watchdog issued two orders in October 2022, one pertaining to Android and one to Play Store, both of which require Google to make significant changes to its policies. The company is making changes to comply with both orders, not just the Android order, which the Supreme Court refused to stay earlier this week. Notably, Google only appears to be making a few of the prescribed changes and not all, but the list includes one significant change: allowing third-party payment methods for all apps on Play Store. "We continue to respectfully appeal certain aspects of the CCI’s decisions and will champion our core principles of openness, expanding user choice, providing transparency and maintaining safety and security that have served the interests of the larger ecosystem," the company noted. The appeal is expected to be heard by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) by March end. What changes is Google going to make to Android and Play Store in India? Third-party payment methods for apps: "User choice billing will be available to all apps and games starting next month. Through user choice billing, developers can offer users the option to choose an alternative billing system…
