CCI gets HC notice on calculation of penalty based on Apple's global turnover
This story was originally published at 14:52 IST on 1 December 2025
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NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court Monday issued notices to the government and the Competition Commission of India on a plea by Apple Inc. against amendments to the Competition Act, 2002 that allowed the antitrust regulator to penalise companies on the basis of their global turnover. Apple Inc. has told the high court that it could be fined $38 billion if the recent amendments to the 2002 Act stand. The high court will hear the case next on Dec. 16.
"Please tell us, prima facie, if the CCI initiates proceedings in relation to one product. How can you take into account turnover with respect to other products? Does it not appear very unreasonable to include other products?" asked a bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela. The antitrust regulator said that for major technological companies, a fine of $200 million or $300 million doesn't matter. Apple has approached the court at this time to scuttle proceedings before the competition regulator, the antitrust body said.
The Competition Commission of India said that there was a shortfall in law and the object of these amendments was that the global turnover concept has been considered in circumstances in which a company does not have a base in India. "We are following the relevant turnover concept but the global turnover concept is for a very different reason where you don't have a presence in India," said the competition regulator. It said it did not ask Apple to give the global turnover, but instead sought the India turnover.
Under the Competition Act, the antitrust regulator can penalise a company up to 10% of its "global turnover derived from all the products and services". Earlier, the regulator could levy penalty only on the "relevant turnover" derived from the product or service under investigation in India. Under the law, the average turnover for the three financial years preceding the contravention is taken into consideration while penalising a company. The Competition Commission of India (Determination of Turnover or Income) Regulations, 2024, and the Competition Commission of India (Determination of Monetary Penalty) Guidelines, 2024, explain how turnover or income should be determined. Apple has challenged the changes to the law in 2023 and 2024 that allow the commission to penalise a company on the basis of its turnover worldwide.
In March, the competition regulator had asked Apple to submit its audited financial statements for the period from FY22 to FY24. The regulator is hearing allegations of anti-competitive conduct in the functioning of Apple's App Store. Apple said the regulator had, in a case involving another entity, imposed a penalty on it retrospectively on the basis of its global turnover. Any such retrospective imposition of penalty on Apple in terms of the recent amendments would be "manifestly arbitrary, irrational, and grossly disproportionate", rendering the same "ultra vires the provisions of Article 14 and Article 21 of the Constitution of India", it said. Apple's maximum penalty exposure at the rate of 10% of its average global turnover derived from all its products and services globally for the period from financial year 2021-22 (Apr-Mar) to FY24 could be about $38 billion, the American multinational technology company said.
In 2017, the Supreme Court had ruled that the turnover for penalty purposes must relate to the infringing product and market, not the company's entire business. The petitioner company has argued that the recent amendments violate that verdict. The Competition Commission of India has "become a slave" to the 2002 Act, it said. "They (CCI) are saying we have an act, an amendment, forget Supreme Court judgment, we have to levy a global penalty," said the petitioner. It sought that no coercive steps be taken against Apple by the competition regulator till the high court hears the case. End
US$1 = INR 89.60
Reported by Surya Tripathi
Edited by Avishek Dutta
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