Apple is pushing back hard against an antitrust investigation in India, accusing the country’s competition watchdog of essentially lifting arguments straight from the company’s rivals instead of conducting its own independent review. Regulatory documents obtained by Reuters reveal the sharp new challenge filed by the tech giant.
The filing, dated June 25 and being reported publicly for the first time, represents the most aggressive move yet by Apple in its ongoing battle with the Competition Commission of India, known as the CCI. Among Apple’s opponents in the case are Match, the company that owns Tinder, along with several Indian technology startups.
Back in 2024, CCI investigators privately released a report concluding that Apple had engaged in what they called “abusive conduct” related to its iOS app platform, and that the company had improperly required developers to use its own payment system.
Apple has rejected those findings. In its latest submission, the company described itself as a “minuscule player” in India, holding less than 6% of the smartphone market. Apple argued the investigation’s conclusions were built on statements from competitors rather than the CCI’s own independent work.
The company also warned that being forced to alter how its App Store operates “could disrupt its integrated business model,” and pushed back against any fines or requirements that would change how it does business. Apple added that imposing such penalties “would create regulatory uncertainty and could deter investments in India’s digital economy.”
Neither the CCI nor its head of investigations responded to questions from Reuters. Apple also declined to comment.
Similar arguments from major corporations have not worked in the past. In 2023, Google made comparable claims during its own antitrust case, warning that the CCI’s order could stall its growth — but the company was ultimately required to change how it promoted its Android operating system, which holds a dominant position in India’s smartphone market.
A closed-door hearing involving all parties in the Apple case is set for July 21.
In its submission, Apple created comparison tables showing that the CCI’s investigation team had allegedly copied language from opponents in the case — including Match, Walmart’s Indian payments app PhonePe, and Indian competitor Paytm — rather than analyzing the issues independently.
“The DG (Director General) made no effort whatsoever to independently verify or critically assess these statements, often parroting them verbatim,” Apple said in the filing.
Match, Paytm, and PhonePe did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.
Apple also took issue with a graphic used in the CCI investigation report, saying it was “blindly replicated” from a 2024 European Union ruling against Apple, even though India’s market conditions differ significantly from Europe’s. A Reuters review found that both the EU order and the Indian report cited data from Statista, an online research platform.
This isn’t the first time such accusations have been made. During Google’s 2023 case, the company also alleged that Indian investigators had copied from a European ruling. At the time, the CCI responded by saying, “We have not cut, copy and pasted.”
The CCI has accused Apple of dragging out the case for more than two years by delaying its responses to the investigation’s findings and separately challenging India’s antitrust penalty law. That law allows fines of up to 10% of a company’s total revenue over the previous three fiscal years. While the CCI has not specified which Apple revenues would be used in any penalty calculation, the potential fine could reach into the millions of dollars.
Apple’s own documents show the company has submitted its “relevant turnover of Apple in India” for fiscal years 2022 through 2024, which regulators typically use when calculating fines.
Apple is also arguing in its submission that investigators never gave the company “a single opportunity to record its statements and provide oral evidence” during the probe — a chance that was reportedly extended to Google during its Android case.
Gautam Shahi, an antitrust lawyer at Dua Associates in India, offered perspective on that argument. “While desirable, the CCI’s investigation team is under no legal obligation to give an oral hearing if it feels it has conclusive evidence,” he said. “CCI’s members will now decide if Apple should have been given that opportunity.”
The case comes at a critical time for Apple, which has been expanding iPhone manufacturing in India as it works to reduce its reliance on China. According to Counterpoint Research, India is on track to produce 26% of the world’s iPhones by 2026, up from just 6% four years ago.
If the CCI does move forward with penalties, Apple has asked that mitigating factors be taken into account, pointing to what it called its “unblemished record” and noting that it has exported $51 billion worth of iPhones from India over the past five years.
