Google to Lower Maps Platform Fees for Indian Developers Starting August 1

With the introduction of a new country-specific price structure, Google is making it easier to build location-based solutions by cutting the pricing of the Google Maps Platform for developers in India by as much as 70% starting from 1st August 2024.

The IT giant is teaming up with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to provide developers working on ONDC with exclusive discounts for a limited time. According to the company, this will lead to a steep discount of up to 90% on certain Google Maps Platform APIs that power e-commerce and related use cases.

Accepting Payments in INR

Google has started taking payments in Indian Rupees (INR), as announced at its developer event Google I/O Connect Bengaluru on 17 July 2024. The previous system used US dollars for payments made by clients in India.

With this price cut, the Google Maps Platform will be more affordable for developers in the country, according to Google. This will allow them to build location-based solutions more easily.

However, these announcements correspond with Ola head Bhavish Aggarwal's public encouragement of developers to use Ola Maps for their mapping needs, giving a free one-year subscription.

Accessible Solely to Clients Located in India

Google has announced that its new pricing structure will be exclusive to consumers in India who are billed in India and experience the bulk of their usage in the nation. Customers who do not fulfil these requirements will not be eligible for the discounted price structure, as it will be monitored to ensure eligibility.

Starting from 1 August 2024, all new customers headquartered in India will be allowed to pay in INR. Existing customers have the option to continue being charged in US dollars or switch to INR.

Google Maps Platform and Google Cloud can be used by developers with a single billing account, according to the announcement.

New Pricing Dynamics for Google Maps Platform and ONDC Integration

According to the announcement, developers working on ONDC projects will have access to exclusive prices on select APIs through Google Maps Platform partners. All four nodes in the ONDC network—gateway, seller, buyer, and technical service provider—will be able to take advantage of the discounted pricing.

As an illustration, the current pricing for the Geocoding API on the Google Maps Platform is $5.00 per 1,000 requests for the first 100,000 monthly requests. After August 1, however, clients in India will be charged $1.50 per 1,000 requests for the first 5,000,000 monthly requests for geocoding.

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