Google’s decision to slash Play Store fee for developers selling subscription service has come in for a strong reaction from digital startup associations, which term it as nothing but a reduced ‘lagaan‘ (tax).

Google has announced that it is lowering its app store fees for all subscription-based services to 15 per cent from the existing 30 per cent starting January 1, 2022.

However, the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) says the tech firm is trying to “deflect and distract" from what developers have been asking for so far. This move only addresses the issue of high prices charged from app developers while the bigger issue of anti-competitive practices still remains unaddressed.

“What developers are asking for is fairness and not benevolence in the form of ‘reduced’ commission percentages. It has never been about the percentages. Price discovery should be left to the market forces. As long as Google gets to unilaterally dictate prices and people don’t have choices, it’s still a lagaan—be it 30, 15 or even 2, the percentages do not matter,” Sijo Kuruvilla George, executive director, ADIF, said.