MUMBAI: Google Friday removed one of India's biggest digital payment apps from its online store for breaching gambling rules, a day before the start of the lucrative Indian Premier League cricket tournament. The IPL, the world's wealthiest national league, has previously been plagued by controversies with corruption and match-fixing cases often taking centre-stage.

Betting is illegal in India but the countdown to the 53-day IPL starting Saturday has seen a profusion of online ads for fantasy sports sites, which are allowed in many parts of the country. Digital payments platform Paytm had recently launched a fantasy cricket tournament that involved cash bets and violated the Google Play Store's policies, the Indian firm said in a statement.

"Today afternoon, we received communication from Google that they are suspending our app because they believe this to be a violation of their Play Store policies on gambling," the company said.

Earlier on Friday, Google in a statement said it would not permit any apps in its store that facilitate sports betting or lead "consumers to external websites that allowed them to participate in paid tournaments to win real money or cash prizes". The Silicon Valley giant did not mention Paytm in the statement.