The first day of sale of the iPhone 15 smartphone in Mumbai, India, on Sept. 22, 2023.
Dhiraj Singh | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Apple has filed a case in Delhi High Court against the country’s anti-trust body because of how it considers global turnover when calculating penalties.
The iPhone maker, which is among the fastest growing smart phone brands in India, is challenging India’s new antitrust law under which the U.S. company could incur fines of up to $38 billion, according to a report by Reuters.
It added it was “unconstitutional, grossly disproportionate, unjust” for the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to use turnover when calculating penalties.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.
The CCI has been investigating complaints made by an alliance of Indian startups and Tinder-owner Match Group that accuse Apple of “abusive conduct” which forces developers to pay high commissions for in-app purchases.
Apple denied the charges.
The CCI’s final verdict is still pending but it said its “prima facie view [is] that mandatory use of Apple’s IAP for paid apps & in-app purchases restrict the choice available to the app developers to select a payment processing system of their choice”, in an order in December 2021.
Apple recorded its highest-ever quarterly shipments in India of 5 million units in the third quarter of 2025, according to data from IDC.
The company is expected to sell about 15 million iPhones this year in India and could rank among top five smartphone companies there, Navkendar Singh associate vice president with IDC India said on CNBC’s “Inside India” on Nov. 18.
Apple is among the global companies who are diversifying their manufacturing supply chain from China to India. In 2024, Apple exports from India hit a record of $12.8 billion, growing at more than 42% from year ago.