Apple Fights India’s New Antitrust Penalty Rule in Delhi High Court
Apple’s court battle against India’s global turnover penalty rule could shape future antitrust enforcement and risks exposing the company to historic fines.
Apple has mounted a major legal challenge against India’s revamped antitrust penalty system, filing a petition in the Delhi High Court to contest the 2024 competition law amendment that allows fines based on a company’s global turnover. If the rule is upheld, Apple could be staring at a penalty of nearly $38 billion—a financial blow that would be one of the largest imposed on a corporate entity in India.
This petition marks the first formal legal pushback against the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) revised penalty formula, a framework that could reshape how India handles competition violations by multinational tech giants.
Apple calls amended law ‘unconstitutional’
In a detailed 545-page submission, first accessed by a popular publication, Apple has urged the court to invalidate the amended penalty provisions, calling them “illegal,” “unconstitutional,” “manifestly arbitrary, unconstitutional, grossly disproportionate, unjust.”
The 2024 amendment empowers the CCI to calculate penalties based on a company’s entire worldwide revenue, instead of limiting fines to the specific business activity being investigated.
Apple argues that such sweeping penalty power extends far beyond the scope of domestic violations and could result in fines up to 10 per cent of its average global turnover across three fiscal years.
Antitrust probe at the heart of the fight
The legal move is closely tied to an ongoing CCI investigation initiated in 2022 after complaints from Match Group (owners of Tinder) and several Indian startups. These firms accused Apple of abusing its dominant position on the App Store by imposing steep commissions—up to 30 per cent—and by limiting third-party payment options.
Although Apple denies wrongdoing and maintains that Google’s Android ecosystem dominates the Indian market, the CCI has not yet issued its final ruling.
Apple fears retroactive penalties
A key trigger for the petition was the CCI’s use of the new penalty method in a November 10 ruling on an unrelated case involving alleged violations from nearly a decade earlier. Apple said this retroactive application left it with “no choice but to bring this constitutional challenge now.”
The company argues that penalties should correspond only to the business segment under scrutiny. To drive the point home, Apple compared the situation to a toy seller who also runs a stationery business, noting:
“It would be arbitrary and disproportionate to levy a penalty on the stationery business’s total turnover of Rs 20,000, when the contravention is only in relation to the toy business that earns Rs 100.”
Experts say Apple faces a tough road
Legal specialists believe the court may not easily overturn the amendment. According to Gautam Shahi, partner at Dua Associates, “The amended law is clear that CCI can consider global turnover. It will be difficult to convince the court to interfere with clearly laid down legislative policy.”
Officials familiar with the policy say the changes bring India closer to EU-style antitrust practices, which also allow penalties calculated on global revenue.
India becomes a bigger market—and a tougher regulatory space
Apple maintains that it is still a smaller player in India, but recent numbers suggest a rapid rise. Counterpoint Research reports that Apple’s user base in India has expanded fourfold over the last five years, driven by domestic manufacturing and booming demand for premium devices.
The petition will be heard on December 3, a decision that could redefine how India regulates multinational tech firms. If Apple loses, it could face a multibillion-dollar penalty and a future where global turnover becomes the benchmark for competition fines in one of the world’s most critical growth markets.
