Order under Section 26(1) of the Competition Act, 2002

1. The present Information has been filed, on 21.02.2020, under Section 19(1)(a) of the Competition Act, 2002 (the 'Act') by XYZ (the 'Informant') against Alphabet Inc. ('OP-1'), Google LLC ('OP-2'), Google Ireland Limited ('Google Ireland/OP-3'), Google India Private Limited ('Google India/OP-4') and Google India Digital Services Private Limited ('Google Digital Services/OP-5') alleging contravention of various provisions of Section 4 of the. The opposite parties are hereinafter collectively referred to as 'Google/Opposite Parties'.

Facts as stated in the Information

2. Google LLC (OP-2) is stated to be a multi-national conglomerate specialising in internet related products and services. Google's business model is stated to be based on interaction between, the online products and services it offers free of charge to users on one hand and, on the other, its online advertising services, from which it derives majority of its revenues. The Informant has further averred that other than Android and Google Search, Google's core products include, a web browser (Google Chrome), an online video streaming service (YouTube), a web-based e-mail service (Gmail), an online mapping, navigation and geolocation service (Google Maps), an app store (Play Store), etc. These services are part of Google Mobile Services (GMS) i.e., the bundle of Google apps and services that Google licenses to smartphone manufacturers/Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).

3. The Information further provides that in addition to the core products of Google, on 18.09.2017, Google launched a Unified Payment Interface (UPI) based payment app called Tez in India, which was rebranded as Google Pay on 28.08.2018 in order to unify Google's payment offerings globally under the 'Google Pay' brand. UPI is an initiative of