For violating gambling policy, Google has removed the popular Indian financial services app Paytm (Owned by One97 Communications Ltd) from the Play Store. But it is available for download on the Apple App Store.
Paytm is one of the most valuable startup company in India and claims to have more than 50 million active monthly users.
Paytm Money, Paytm Mall, Paytm For Business, and others owned applications by One97 Communications Ltd are still available in Play Store.
What Paytm Said?
Paytm said in a statement on Twitter โDear Paytm’ers, Paytm Android app is temporarily unavailable on Google’s Play Store for new downloads or updates. It will be back very soon. All your money is completely safe, and you can continue to enjoy your Paytm app as normal.โ
Dear Paytm’ers,
Paytm Android app is temporarily unavailable on Google’s Play Store for new downloads or updates. It will be back very soon.
All your money is completely safe, and you can continue to enjoy your Paytm app as normal.
โ Paytm (@Paytm) September 18, 2020
Is your Money Safe In Paytm?
“All your money is completely safe, and you can continue to enjoy your Paytm app as normal,” Paytm further mentioned.
๐จ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ: We continue to work with Google to restore our Android app. We assure all our users that their balances & linked accounts are 100% safe.
Our services are fully functional on all existing apps and you can continue enjoying Paytm like before.https://t.co/Klb63HRr0V
โ Paytm (@Paytm) September 18, 2020
Google’s Response on Paytm App Removal
“The (Paytm) app was blocked for violation of play policies – a clarification of our policy was released earlier today ahead of the IPL (Indian Premier League) tournament,” Google said in an e-mailed response.
Google has requested developers to pause all advertisement campaigns in their apps to get users to Websites that offer installation files of sport betting applications via an email sent by Google to many companies in India as stated by TechCrunch.
The Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS), an “industry body” representing some fantasy sports businesses, has also complained about Google taking action in industries selling or supporting fantasy sports through the play store.
The founding member of FIFS is Dream Sports, India’s parent company of Dream 11, the most popular fantasy sports app. On the Play Store, the Dream11 app is not available. FIFS said the following in a letter to its members:
Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports, an “industry body” that represents some fantasy sports firms (and over which Dream11’s parent firm has influence), claims it complained to Google to take action on companies that distribute or promote fantasy sports through Play Store. pic.twitter.com/XgzIcdsdIq
โ Manish Singh (@refsrc) September 18, 2020