Vijay Shekar Sharma, CEO of payments company Paytm, practically a household name in India, has declared war[1] on Google for practices that he, in addition to a multitude of other tech startup CEOs, consider to be unfair and monopolistic.
The spat has now become India's latest tech feud.
Resentment against Google has long been simmering but out-and-out hostility finally came to surface when Paytm was taken off Google's Play store for what the search giant said was a violation of its policy due to Paytm engaging in sports betting[2].
Sharma and Paytm were stunned, not just to be notified by a perfunctory email, which was then followed by a delisting, but because the accusation was about a scratch card-based cashback feature linked to a cricket game on the app, not unlike[3] what Google itself has pursued via its own payments service in the past, according to Paytm.
Google stood its ground, however.
"Offering cashbacks and vouchers alone do not constitute a violation of our Google Play gambling policies. Our policies don't allow online casinos or support any unregulated gambling apps that facilitate sports betting, including daily fantasy sports in India," it responded[4] in an emailed statement.
When Paytm suspended the offer from its app, it was allowed back into the app store a few hours later, but by then the damage was already done. An infuriated Sharma lashed[5] out at the search giant, condemning its high-handed behaviour where he said it acted as "judge, jury, executioner, and beneficiary".
THE UNKINDEST CUT OF ALL
Underlying this incident, of course, is a larger issue that has aligned many of India's tech startups against Google. It's the same issue[6] that enraged