Apple Accuses India's Antitrust Watchdog of 'Copy-Pasting' Rivals' Claims, Seeks to Quash $38 Billion Case

Apple Fires Back at India's Competition Watchdog

Apple has launched its sharpest attack yet on the Competition Commission of India, accusing the regulator's investigators of "copy-pasting" allegations made by rival companies rather than conducting an independent probe into the iPhone maker's App Store practices. According to Reuters, which reviewed confidential regulatory filings submitted on 25 June, Apple has asked for the antitrust findings against it to be quashed entirely.

The case centres on allegations that Apple abused its dominant position in the iOS app store market by forcing developers to use its proprietary in-app payment system. In 2024, the CCI's investigation team privately concluded that Apple had engaged in "abusive conduct" and wrongly mandated its own payment rails.

The 'Copy-Paste' Defence

In its filing, Apple drew up side-by-side tables to argue the investigation team had performed no analysis of its own, instead relying on submissions from opponents including Match Group, Walmart's Indian payments app PhonePe, and homegrown rival Paytm. "The DG made no effort whatsoever to independently verify or critically assess these statements, often parroting them verbatim," Apple said. The company also claimed investigators "blindly replicated" a graphic on worldwide consumer spending lifted from a 2024 EU ruling, despite India's very different market conditions.

Apple described itself as a "minuscule player" with under 6% of India's smartphone market and warned that "forced alterations to Apple's carefully designed App Store could disrupt its integrated business model".

A Familiar Playbook

The accusation echoes a nearly identical argument made by Alphabet's Google in 2023, when it alleged Indian investigators had copied parts of a European ruling in its Android case. The CCI rejected that claim, stating flatly, "We have not cut, copy and pasted" - and Google ultimately failed to prevent the regulator forcing changes to how it promoted Android in India.

What Comes Next

The CCI has accused Apple of stalling the case for more than two years by withholding responses and mounting a parallel challenge to India's penalty law, which permits fines of up to 10% of a company's global turnover. Because the fine can be based on worldwide rather than local revenue, Apple estimates its exposure could reach roughly $38 billion. Apple has now submitted India-specific financials for fiscal years 2022 to 2024, which the CCI uses to calculate penalties.

Senior CCI officials will hold a closed-door hearing with all parties on 21 July, while the Delhi High Court has ordered the regulator not to issue a final ruling before 15 July. Apple is pushing for mitigating factors to count in its favour, pointing to its "unblemished record" and $51 billion in iPhone exports from India over five years. The stakes keep rising: India is set to make around 26% of the world's iPhones in 2026, up from just 6% four years ago.