The Delhi High Court (HC) heard Apple’s challenge to Section 27(b) of the Competition Act and the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) 2024 Monetary Penalty Guidelines on December 1, examining whether penalties can be based on a company’s global turnover.
A Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela issued notice to the Union government and the CCI, directing them to file their responses within a week. Apple will submit its rejoinder after that. The Court will hear the matter next on December 16, and the CCI’s ongoing investigation into Apple will continue unless the Court intervenes.
During the hearing, the Bench questioned how the CCI could rely on a company’s global turnover when the alleged abuse concerns only one product. The judges asked whether it was reasonable to include revenue from unrelated business lines while determining penalties for anti-competitive conduct in India.
The CCI, represented by Advocate Balbir Singh, defended the global-turnover approach and argued that Apple was attempting to scuttle the ongoing investigation into its App Store practices.
The HC’s notice marks the beginning of the first significant judicial review of India’s new penalty regime. The amendments introduced in 2023 and 2024 fundamentally shift how penalties are calculated for multinational platforms, especially those operating integrated digital ecosystems.
What Apple Told the Court
Apple argued that the 2023 amendment and the 2024 penalty guidelines unlawfully expand the CCI’s power by stretching the scope of Section 27(b) far beyond what Parliament originally intended. The company said the CCI could now penalise it based on worldwide revenue from all Apple products, even though the investigation concerns only the App Store and iOS ecosystem in India.
Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Apple, said this expansion effectively overturns the Supreme Court’s 2017 Excel Crop Care judgment. That judgment held that penalties must be limited to “relevant turnover,” meaning revenue generated from the specific product or service that was part of the alleged anti-competitive conduct. Apple said the new amendment attempts to reverse that principle indirectly by adding an explanation that widens the meaning of turnover to include every global revenue stream.
According to Apple, this exposes the company to disproportionate and arbitrary penalties. The petition states that Apple could be fined nearly USD 38 billion under the amended penalty framework if the CCI finds it guilty of abuse of dominance. Apple argued that this violates Article 14 because it treats a limited Indian investigation as if it relates to Apple’s entire global business.
Apple further argued that the 2023 amendment amounts to an impermissible legislative change disguised as an explanation. The company said the amendment rewrites the basis of penalty computation and substantively…
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