Google India net profits jump 38 percent to Rs 808 crore for FY21

Source: AP

Google India reported 38 percent increase in net profits at Rs 808 crore for the year ended March 31, 2021. It had reported a net profit of Rs 586.2 crore in FY20.

Revenues grew 14 percent for the year to Rs 6,386 crore at the end of FY21, compared to Rs 5,602 crore in the previous year, according to financial data accessed by business intelligence platform, Tofler.

For the technology giant, Information Technology services accounted for about 46.6 percent of the revenue followed by ITeS services at 26.21 percent, from 41 percent and 32 percent in the previous year respectively. Advertising revenue contribution remained the same at 27 percent of the overall revenue.

At the back of COVID-19, the company said in the filing, it would be tough to predict the future impact of the current economic situation, which is uncertain. However it will continue to closely monitor any material changes to future economic conditions, it added.

Google India Digital Services, which operates Google Pay, saw its net profit increase by 62 percent to Rs 53.22 crore for FY21. Google launched its payments app Tez on September 18, 2017, which was re-branded to Google Pay a year later.

However not all is rosy for the tech giant in India.

Google has lowered its app store fees for all subscription-based services to 15 percent from the existing 30 percent from January 1, 2022. This comes as the internet giant faces increased scrutiny over its app store practices in India and across the world.

The tech giant currently levies a 30 percent fee for all subscription services which has been reduced to 15 percent after 12 months of a recurring subscription. "We’ve heard that customer churn makes it challenging for subscription businesses to benefit from that reduced rate. So, we’re simplifying things to ensure they can," said Sameer Samat, Vice President, Product Management, Google in a blogpost.

However the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF), a New Delhi-based industry body consisting of entrepreneurs and startups, has moved the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to seek interim relief against the implementation of Google Play Store commission till the investigation into the tech giant’s abuse of dominance is complete.

The company is also currently facing anti-trust probe by the Competition Commission of India on multiple fronts. In 2018, Google was fined Rs 136 crore by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against abuse of dominance for online general web search. In June 2021, CCI also opened a probe over Google's alleged abuse of dominance in the Android TV operating system.