The Apple Standoff: India Defends Its New Antitrust Power

In a recent legal submission to the Delhi High Court, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) defended its authority to calculate antitrust penalties based on a corporation’s total global turnover. This defense comes in response to a significant legal challenge by Apple, which seeks to overturn the 2024 legislation. The regulator argued that limiting fines to domestic revenue is insufficient for discouraging anti-competitive behavior among large multinational entities, particularly within digital markets. According to the CCI, adopting a global revenue metric ensures that penalties serve as a genuine deterrent rather than a negligible operational cost for international firms, thereby aligning Indian regulatory standards with established global practices.

Apple’s primary contention is that the law could result in penalties that are vastly disproportionate to the scale of alleged infractions within the Indian market. Following an investigation into its App Store practices, Apple faces potential fines reaching billions of dollars under this new framework. Beyond the financial impact, Apple has accused the regulator of applying the law retrospectively. However, the CCI maintains that the 2024 amendment is merely a clarification of existing legislative intent regarding how turnover is defined, asserting that the commission has always possessed the mandate to levy fines up to 10% of a company’s revenue.

The outcome of this litigation will have broad implications for other multinational corporations currently under scrutiny in India, including Amazon and Pernod Ricard. While the CCI claims it has only requested India-specific financial data from Apple thus far, the tech giant argues that the broad definition of turnover established by the new law remains a significant legal threat. The Delhi High Court is scheduled to deliberate on these arguments during a hearing on January 27, 2026.