Google appeals against ruling by India’s watchdog

NEW DELHI: Google has appealed against a ruling by India's competition watchdog that found it guilty of "search bias", while the website that brought the case also challenged the outcome, complaining the online search giant had got off too lightly.

In February, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) fined Google 1.36 billion INR ($21 million), saying it was also abusing its dominance by giving its own online airline flight search product an unfair advantage over rivals.

Google, the core unit of US firm Alphabet Inc, said on Tuesday it had filed an appeal. "We disagree with aspects of the CCI's decision, so we have filed an appeal and sought a stay on those findings," a Google spokesman said.

After the February ruling, Google had referred to the issues raised by the Commission as "narrow concerns".

However, a lawyer with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday that Matrimony.com, the Indian matchmaking website that had filed the case against Google was dissatisfied with the outcome.

Matrimony.com, according to the lawyer, has appealed against both the size of the fine, which it says is too small, and the CCI's ruling that neither Google's specialised search design or its advertising service, AdWords, were breaking competition rules. Google did not comment on that development.