NEW DELHI, June 29 (Reuters) – Apple has accused Indian antitrust investigators of ‘copying and pasting’ its rivals’ allegations and failing to properly conduct its own investigation when concluding that the U.S. technology giant violated competition laws, calling for the findings to be overturned, regulatory documents reviewed by Reuters show.
Apple’s June 25 complaint, released for the first time, represents the sharpest escalation to date in Apple’s dispute with the Competition Commission of India (CCI), where Tinder owner Match and Indian startups are among its opponents.
In 2024, CCI investigators released a private report stating that Apple engaged in ‘abusive conduct’ on its iOS operating system’s application platform and improperly enforced the use of its payment system. Apple denied the allegations. In its defense, it claimed that it was a ‘tiny player’ with less than 6% of India’s smartphone market and that the investigation’s findings were based on competitors’ allegations rather than the CCI’s independent analysis.
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Apple stated that any ‘forced changes to Apple’s carefully designed App Store could harm its integrated business model’ and opposed any penalties and behavioral measures that could force it to change its approach.
“Imposing corrective measures would create regulatory uncertainty and could deter investment in India’s digital economy,” the company added.
The CCI and its head of investigations did not respond to Reuters’ questions. Apple also did not respond to requests for comment. Similar arguments presented by other large companies did not convince the CCI. In 2023, Alphabet’s Google argued in its antitrust case that the CCI’s order risked harming its growth, but the company was later forced to make changes to the way it promoted its Android system, which dominates the Indian smartphone market.
Senior CCI officials are expected to hold a closed-door hearing with all parties involved in the case on July 21.
‘COPY AND PASTE’ ALLEGATIONS
In its defense, Apple produced tables to argue that the CCI investigation team had not done its own analysis and instead limited itself to ‘copying and pasting’ various submissions from opponents in the case, such as Match, Walmart’s Indian payments app, PhonePe and Indian competitor Paytm.
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“The DG (Director General) made no effort to independently verify or critically evaluate these statements, often repeating them verbatim,” Apple said.
Match, Paytm and PhonePe did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Apple also claimed that the CCI investigation reports ‘blindly replicated’ a chart on global consumer spending on mobile apps and games that came from an EU ruling against Apple in 2024, even though India faced different market conditions.
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A Reuters analysis of the footnotes of the EU order and the Indian investigation report 🏽 showed that both referenced data from Statista, an online search site. In 2023, Google also argued that Indian investigators copied parts of a European ruling. ‘We don’t cut, copy and paste,’ the CCI said at the time.
ORGANIZATION SAYS APPLE IS DELAYING THE PROCESS
Apple faces antitrust challenges around the world, from Europe to the United States. The case in India, however, is progressing at a time when Apple is facing many issues in its supply chain, including a data breach at its Indian contract manufacturer, Tata.
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The supervisory body accuses Apple of delaying the process for more than two years, by failing to present responses to the investigation’s conclusions and by presenting a parallel challenge to India’s antitrust law, which provides for potential fines of up to 10% of the company’s revenue over the previous three years.
The CCI did not specify which Apple revenues could be considered, but any fine could run into millions of dollars. Documents submitted by Apple show that it has provided ‘relevant Apple India revenue’ for fiscal years 2022 to 2024 as required — typically used by the watchdog for penalty calculations. In the documents filed, Apple also argues that authorities did not grant the technology company “a single opportunity to record its statements and provide oral evidence” during the investigation.
According to Apple’s petition, during the Android lawsuit, Google had several opportunities to defend itself and explain its business model.
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“While desirable, the CCI investigation team is under no legal obligation to hold an oral hearing if it considers it has conclusive evidence,” said Gautam Shahi, an Indian lawyer specializing in antitrust law at Dua Associates.
“CCI members will now decide whether Apple should have been given this opportunity.”
As Apple diversifies iPhone manufacturing beyond China, India is becoming a key market — the country is expected to produce 26% of the world’s iPhones in 2026, up from 6% four years ago, according to Counterpoint Research.
If the CCI considers imposing penalties, Apple said mitigating factors should be taken into account, including its ‘impeccable track record’ and the fact that it has exported iPhones worth $51 billion from India over the past five years.
(By Aditya Kalra)
