New Delhi, February 8 The Competition Commission today slapped a fine of Rs 136 crore on Google after finding the search engine giant guilty of abusing its dominant position in India.
The order has come on complaints filed by Matrimony.com and Consumer Unity& Trust Society way back in 2012 against Google. It was alleged that Google is indulging in abuse of dominant position in the market for online search through practices leading to search bias and search manipulation.
After a detailed investigation in the case, the fair trade regulator said the penalty is being imposed on Google for “infringing anti-trust conduct”.
Reacting to the order passed by Competition Commission of India (CCI) Google said it is “reviewing the narrow concerns identified by the Commission and will assess our next steps”.
Globally, Google has been facing probe for anti-competitive behaviour but this would probably be one of the rare case, where the search engine giant has been levied fine for unfair business practices.
According to the order, the fine of Rs 135.86 crore translates to 5 per cent of the company’s average total revenue generated from India operations from its different business segments for the three financial years 2013, 2014 and 2015.
