Google on Friday moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against the Competition Commission of India‘s penalty orders of Rs 2,274 crore for abusing its dominant market position in the Android ecosystem and with regard to Play Store policies.

The US tech giant sought a stay on the antitrust regulator’s orders on the grounds that it failed to appreciate the strong evidence on record from the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), developers and users demonstrating that the open Android business model supports competition for the benefit of all stakeholders, including India specifically.

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The appeal in the NCLAT comes days after Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s visit to India where he said that regulations should balance citizens’ interests and innovative framework.

“We have decided to appeal the CCI’s decision on Android as we believe it presents a major setback for our Indian users and businesses who trust Android’s security features, and potentially raising the cost of mobile devices,” a Google spokesperson said. “Android has greatly benefitted Indian users, developers and OEMs, and powered India’s digital transformation. We look forward to making our case and remain committed to our users and partners,” the spokesperson added.

Sources said that Google strongly disagrees with the CCI’s decision. “The company is optimistic that the NCLAT will take full account of the evidence on record and the tremendous contribution that Android has made to the massive growth and prosperity of the mobile ecosystem in India. Android has created more choice for everyone, and supports thousands of successful businesses in India and around the world,” sources said.

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According to Google, the CCI’s order exposes Indian users to unprecedented security risks, apart from making Android devices in India more expensive, less functional and less safe than they are today. “It will harm Indian developers whose costs will increase; and it will harm OEMs doing business in India,” sources aware of the company’s petition said.

According to the company’s petition, not just Google, but even Indian phone manufacturers disagree with the CCI’s remedies, given its obvious adverse implications. “They see the damage that this decision will cause to the Android ecosystem,and ultimately Indian users. The CCI claims to have acted in the interest of OEMs. But it seems like this is not the case – the same partners (Micromax and Karbonn) CCI seeks to protect, are protesting the CCI’s decision,” Google is understood to have argued.

Sources said that Google has argued that that phone manufacturers like Micromax, Karbonn and others recognise that the CCI’s decision makes Android devices more expensive for users, puts Indian users at the risk of malware and makes the Android platform less attractive for app developers to write apps for.

As reported earlier, in October, CCI had imposed a penalty of Rs 1,337.76 crore on Google for abusing its dominant position in multiple markets related to Android mobile devices and asked it to cease and desist from various unfair business practices. In addition, the competition watchdog had also imposed a penalty of `936 crore for abusing its dominant position with regards to Play Store policies. During its investigation, the CCI had noted that Google’s business model is driven with an intent of increasing users on its platforms which gives it an upper hand in showcasing its services such as its search browser, and other apps first to the users through exclusive licensing agreements with handset makers. This deprives smartphone makers and app developers to present their apps or services to the customers.

Further, the end users also don’t get a choice to access app stores to access content or avail other services, the CCI had noted.