Google under CCI scanner for unfair business practices

Fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) is investigating some of the business practices of search giant Google.

Similar investigations are also being conducted against the US-headquartered company in Argentina and South Korea.

'The Comision Nacional de Defensa de la Competencia in Argentina, the Competition Commission of India and the Korea Fair Trade Commission in South Korea have also opened investigations into certain of our business practices,' Google said in a regulatory filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

When contacted, a Google spokesperson said, 'We're always happy to answer questions about our business and we're extending our full cooperation to CCI. We're confident that our products are compliant with competition law in India.'

In August 2012, the Parliament was informed that CCI had initiated investigation into alleged anti-competitive practices by Google.

CCI had received information for contravention of section 4 of the Competition Act, 2002, by Google. The section pertains to the abuse of dominant position by a market player.

In February 2012, another company BharatMatrimony had filed a complaint against Google alleging that the multinational company has abused its dominance by engaging in discriminatory and retaliatory practices relating to AdWords.

The AdWords programme, in which Google sells keywords to advertisers and displays them in the form of short ads online, is a big money spinner for the company. In 2011, the advertising segment comprised 96 per cent of Google's $38 billion revenue.