The Competition Commission has initiated investigation into alleged anti-competitive practices by global search engine Google, the government said on Monday.

In a written reply in Parliament, Minister of State for Corporate Affairs R P N Singh said CCI has 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.

“The CCI, which is quasi-judicial regulator body has ordered an investigation in the matter of Director General, CCI,” he said replying to a query whether the Competition Commission of India has launched a probe on a complaint filed by an NGO CUTS International.

In February, 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 USD 38 billion revenue.