SC Admits Google’s Appeal Against NCLAT Order on Play Store Dominance, Hearing in November

The matter was heard by the Bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Atul S. Chandurkar, which ordered the appeals to be listed for hearing in November 2025.

The appeal, filed by Alphabet Inc, Google Inc, Google Ireland, Google India, and Google India Digital Services, seeks to overturn the NCLAT’s affirmation of the CCI’s core conclusions regarding Google’s Play Store billing policy and the promotion of its proprietary payment service, Google Pay. The case has been registered on the Supreme Court’s website and is expected to be listed for hearing shortly.

The matter traces back to the CCI’s order dated October 20, 2024, in which the regulator imposed a fine of ₹936.44 crore on Google and its group companies. The Commission found that Google had violated provisions of Section 4 of the Competition Act, 2002, particularly Section 4(2)(e), by engaging in “unfair and discriminatory conduct”that exploited its dominance in multiple markets within the Android mobile ecosystem.

The CCI’s order stemmed from complaints filed by People Interactive India (operator of Shaadi.com), Mebigo Labs (Kuku FM), the Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation, and the Indian Digital Media Industry Foundation. These entities alleged that Google’s Play Store policies harmed competition by mandating the use of its proprietary Google Play Billing System (GPBS) for app purchases and in-app transactions while exempting its own platforms like YouTube from similar fee structures.

In addition to the financial penalty, the CCI directed Google to cease its anti-competitive practices, permit third-party billing mechanisms, and disclose its data usage policies to ensure transparency and curb self-preferential treatment using consumer data.

On March 28, 2025, the NCLAT upheld the CCI’s principal findings that Google had imposed unfair conditions on app developers by enforcing the use of its billing system, thereby breaching Indian competition law. The appellate tribunal concluded that this conduct was anti-competitive and disadvantaged rival payment service providers.

However, the NCLAT partially relieved Google by setting aside two elements of the CCI’s order: allegations related to denial of market access and innovation restriction. The tribunal noted that Google’s billing system accounted for less than 1% of overall UPI transactions and that there was insufficient evidence to support claims of market foreclosure or stifling of technical development.

Crucially, the NCLAT recalculated the financial penalty and reduced it from ₹936.44 crore to ₹216.69 crore, limiting the scope of the fine to Google’s revenue from Play Store operations in India rather than applying it to the company’s global turnover.

Subsequently, on May 1, 2025, the NCLAT passed a clarificatory order rectifying what it termed an “inadvertent error” in the March judgment. This rectification reinstated two critical directions issued by the CCI, namely, that Google must disclose its data policies and must not use billing data collected via GPBS to gain a competitive edge in other services.

In its petition before the Supreme Court, Google has contested both the substantive findings and the procedural correctness of the NCLAT’s orders. The company argues that the tribunal failed to appreciate key aspects of its business model, and that the reinstatement of CCI’s data directives via a rectificatory order amounts to a review, which is impermissible under law.

The petition raises questions about the scope of NCLAT’s jurisdiction, the interpretation of abuse of dominance under Indian competition law, and the proportionality of the remedies imposed. Google is likely to assert that its policies do not hinder competition, and that the mandatory billing mechanism is essential for maintaining platform security and consumer protection.