Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder, and CEO of Paytm said, “All options are open,” when asked if he would take legal recourse against Google, Economic Times reported.
Paytm on Sunday, while calling the removal of its application from the Google Play Store ‘unjustified’, alleged that the internet giant “arm twisted” it to remove a UPI cashback scheme even as its own digital payments app — Google Pay, has been running a similar promotion.
Stressing that contrary to actual practice, Paytm said it was not given an opportunity to respond to concerns raised by Google Play Store.
“We maintain that our cashback campaign was within guidelines, as well as all laws of the land. We did not break any rules and there was no violation. It is not related to gambling in any manner whatsoever,” Paytm said in an elaborated blogpost about the issue.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder, and CEO of Paytm said, “All options are open,” when asked if he would take legal recourse against Google, Economic Times reported.
“We would like to amplify the voice of the Indian startup community and our technology companies,” the Paytm CEO said.
“This is a concern for every regulator in this country and for the government because our app is not a gambling app. I feel agitated to the level that it won’t stop today or tomorrow, this fight will go long,” he further added.
Offering cashbacks and vouchers alone do not constitute a violation of Google Play gambling policies, Google spokesperson said in an email responding to the allegations, The Hindu reported.
Earlier, Paytm was pulled down from the Google Play Store. Google confirmed that the app was pulled down because of the addition of the fantasy cricket tournament that the company recently included, which violates Google Play policies.
Google, earlier on Friday, had posted a blog post that highlighted its gambling policy that doesn’t allow app developers to facilitate sports betting.
“We don’t allow online casinos or support any unregulated gambling apps that facilitate sports betting. This includes if an app leads consumers to an external website that allows them to participate in paid tournaments to win real money or cash prizes, it is a violation of our policies,” Google had said. It also confirmed that this was the reason for the Paytm app to be pulled down.
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