After failing to keep away from the latest antitrust directives imposed upon it by the Competitors Fee of India (CCI), tech big Google has lastly agreed to help a third-party billing system for Google Play Retailer purchases on this planet’s second-largest web market, India.

On a help web page, the corporate introduced that it’s formally enabling all builders in India to make use of another billing system for cell and pill customers. The corporate stated that it arrived at this choice in “response to latest regulatory developments” within the Indian market.

With this, Indian customers can have the choice to resort to both various fee strategies or Google Play Retailer’s personal billing system. The transfer is predicted to supply better flexibility and selection for customers and builders in India, particularly since many customers in India are recognized to choose to make use of various fee methods like Paytm, PhonePe, or UPI, which are sometimes extra handy, safe, and user-friendly. Google added that builders who trying so as to add another billing system will probably be required to fulfill a number of standards, in addition to take interim steps whereas the corporate works on APIs to streamline integration this yr.

The event is a victory for builders as nicely since Google’s compliance with the native regulatory instructions additionally supplies them with the choice to keep away from paying a lot of the hefty fee that’s charged by the Google Play Retailer. Beneath the brand new Play Retailer insurance policies, the Google Play Service price will probably be lowered by 4% if customers make funds via another billing system – which signifies that builders will nonetheless should pay 11% or 26% in fee to Google, primarily based on how a lot they earn from their apps. For many who are unaware, Google presently expenses builders a fee of 15% or 30%, relying on how a lot their annual Play Retailer income is, for utilizing its platform and fee instruments.

Google’s choice, whereas noteworthy, is just not sudden. It comes practically a month after the corporate revealed a listing of modifications to its insurance policies in a weblog publish, together with permitting third-party app retailer downloads on the Play Retailer. That got here after a hefty positive of $161 million was imposed upon it by the CCI final yr for abusing its dominance in a number of markets, and the corporate was directed to make modifications to its enterprise mannequin within the nation.

The imposition of the monetary penalty served because the prelude to a tussle between Google and the CCI and ended when the tech titan didn’t persuade the Supreme Court docket to remain the CCI order. Google argued that the sweeping modifications that it was directed to make could be dangerous to the expansion of the Android ecosystem in India (it powers over 97% of smartphones within the nation). And whereas it continues to problem the choice, it later introduced that it will be complying with the order.

General, the corporate’s choice to permit third-party billing for in-app purchases in India is a welcome growth for customers and builders alike and can give builders a better diploma of management over their fee methods.