What Did Apple Do To Deserve A $38 Billion Fine In India? Here Is The Full Story

Apple has asked India's competition regulator to scrap its entire investigation, saying officials simply copied what rivals said without checking if any of it was actually true.

Apple says India's antitrust team gave it no chance to speak.

Source : એબીપી અસ્મિતા

Apple has pushed back hard against India's competition regulator, accusing its investigators of reproducing claims made by rivals rather than conducting any independent analysis. In a formal submission dated June 25, the company asked the Competition Commission of India to throw out its findings entirely. 

The move escalates a long-running dispute between Apple and the CCI, which had privately concluded in 2024 that Apple engaged in "abusive conduct" related to its App Store payment policies.

How Apple Is Challenging The CCI's Investigation

According to a report by MacRumors, Apple's June 25 submission to the Competition Commission of India, reviewed by Reuters, included tables intended to demonstrate that the regulator's investigation team had simply reproduced filings from opponents in the case, including Match, Walmart's Indian payments app PhonePe, and Indian rival Paytm. 

"The DG [Director General] made no effort whatsoever to independently verify or critically assess these statements, often parroting them verbatim," Apple said.

Apple also claimed the CCI "blindly replicated" a graphic on worldwide consumer spending on mobile apps and games drawn from a 2024 EU ruling against the company, even though India operates under different market conditions. The company further argued that officials failed to grant it "a single opportunity to record its statements and provide oral evidence" during the probe, while Google was reportedly given several chances to defend itself in a similar case.

Apple denied all allegations, describing itself as a "minuscule player" holding under 6% of India's smartphone market. It warned that any forced changes to its App Store could disrupt its business model and "create regulatory uncertainty and could deter investments in India's digital economy."

What Is At Stake For Apple In India Right Now

The CCI has accused Apple of stalling the case for over two years by withholding responses and pursuing a separate legal challenge to India's antitrust penalty law, which allows fines of up to 10% of a company's global turnover over three years. Under that calculation, Apple has estimated its potential financial exposure at as much as $38 billion.

Apple had refused to supply global financial documents before agreeing to cooperate in early June 2026, ultimately submitting only its local Indian turnover figures. The company is also separately contesting in a New Delhi court whether the penalty law, which took effect in 2024, should apply to the full 2022-2024 period under review.

The dispute plays out as India becomes increasingly important to Apple's global operations. The country is set to manufacture 26% of the world's iPhones in 2026, up from just 6% four years ago.