An Indian fair trade watchdog on Thursday fined Google $165,810 for not cooperating in anti-trust investigations the authority was overseeing.
"The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed a fine of Rs 1 Crore upon Google for failure to comply with the directions given by the Director General (DG) seeking information and documents," read a press statement from Indian authorities.
The release added, "The order was passed on a reference made by the DG to CCI alleging inter alia non-cooperation by Google in the pending investigations,"
According to The Wall Street Journal, CCI has been investigating Google's Adwords based on a complaint against the Internet giant over alleged misuse of its dominance in the search market to benefit select advertisers over others.
The government press release said the complaint was filed by Matrimony.com private limited and Consumer Unity & Trust Society in 2012.
The Economic Times quoted CCI chairman Ashok Chawala last year affirming that Google search appeared to show bias.
"That is when you click on Google under a certain category, you will get the platforms where there is a tendency to put them in a certain order which may not be the fair and non-discriminatory manner. So, what is the software and what is the algorithmic search? [That is] what the investigation team is looking at," he said.
It was earlier reported that Google could face up $5 billion in penalties, though it had received clearance from the U.S. Federal Commission after a two-year review.
After the order was announced, a Google spokesperson expressed disappointment. "We're disappointed by this development. While we are confident that our products are compliant with competition law in India, we continue to cooperate fully with the Competition Commission of India's extensive and ongoing investigation. We've not yet received this procedural order, but will review it fully once we have."
In its order, CCI directed the company to cooperate with future investigations.
