The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has refused a request from tech giant Apple to pause the CCI’s ongoing Apple app store antitrust proceedings, and warned that it will move forward with the case unilaterally if the company fails to respond within the deadline set by the regulator.
In a confidential order dated December 31, 2025 – which Reuters saw – the CCI said it would no longer accommodate repeated delays from Apple, even as the company continues to challenge India’s penalty framework before the Delhi High Court (HC). As a result, the dispute has moved beyond procedural wrangling and into a direct confrontation over whether enforcement can continue without Apple’s participation.
For context, Apple had asked the CCI to halt the Apple app store abuse-of-dominance proceedings while its legal challenge to the CCI’s’s global-turnover-based penalty framework remains pending before the Delhi HC.
However, the CCI rejected this argument, making clear that parallel litigation does not justify freezing an investigation that has already reached an advanced procedural stage. Instead, the regulator drew a distinction between judicial scrutiny of its powers and the continuation of its enforcement process.
Why is the CCI pushing back now?
In its December 31 order, the CCI explained that it was no longer willing to extend deadlines. The regulator said it had issued clear and repeated directions to Apple, but the company continued to seek additional time.
According to the CCI, this was no longer a matter of routine procedural flexibility, rather the delays had begun to undermine the regulator’s ability to bring the case to a timely conclusion.
“The Commission is of the considered view that repeated extensions, despite unambiguous directions, undermine procedural discipline and impede the timely conclusion of proceedings,” the CCI said, adding that such indulgence could not continue indefinitely.
As a result, the regulator warned that it would move ahead with the case even if Apple does not submit its responses within seven days starting December 31.
What is Apple’s position?
Apple’s request to pause the proceedings is closely tied to its broader challenge to India’s global-turnover-based penalty regime.
Before the Delhi HC, Apple has argued that amendments to Section 27(b) of the Competition Act and the CCI’s 2024 Monetary Penalty Guidelines unlawfully expand the regulator’s powers by allowing penalties to be calculated on the basis of a company’s global turnover, rather than revenue linked to the Indian market or the conduct under investigation.
The tech giant argues that this framework exposes it to disproportionately large penalties, potentially amounting to $38 billion, even where the alleged anticompetitive conduct is confined to India. From Apple’s perspective, proceeding with the antitrust case before the Delhi HC rules on this issue risks prejudging the outcome of…
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