Apple moves Delhi HC against India’s global turnover penalty rule

American tech giant Apple has approached the Delhi High Court to challenge provisions of India’s competition law that allow the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to impose penalties based on a company’s global turnover.

The plea is listed for hearing on Wednesday before a Division Bench of chief justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and justice Tushar Rao Gedela, according to the list of cases reviewed by Mint.

The Union of India and the CCI have been named as respondents in the case.

This marks one of the first major legal challenges to the 2023 overhaul of the Competition Act, which introduced sweeping changes—most notably a new penalty framework allowing the CCI to impose fines based on a company’s global turnover, rather than only its India or product-specific revenue.

Apple has challenged the 2023 amendment to Section 27(b) of the Competition Act and the 2024 Monetary Penalty Guidelines, which introduced the concept of “global turnover” for calculating fines.

Under Section 27(b), the CCI may impose penalties of up to 10% of the average turnover of the preceding three financial years on enterprises found guilty of abuse of dominance or anti-competitive conduct.

The amendment expanded the definition of “turnover” so that penalties can now be based on global revenue from all products and services, rather than just Indian revenue or the revenue from the specific product where the alleged violation occurred.

Prior to this change, penalties were restricted to “relevant turnover” following a 2017 Supreme Court ruling in the Excel Crop Care case, which held that using total or global turnover had “no rational connection” to the alleged anti-competitive conduct in India and would be disproportionate.

The amendment effectively overturns that judgment and brings India in line with jurisdictions such as the European Union and UK, where global turnover is used to set penalty ceilings.

However, unlike the EU, where fines begin from the turnover of the specific product involved, India’s framework allows global turnover to directly influence the penalty amount.

Apple argues that this could lead to excessive and unfair fines, even when the conduct in question relates to only a small portion of its Indian business.

Apple India declined to comment on Mint’s emailed query.

The issue is significant for Big Tech companies, including Apple, Google, Amazon and Meta, which now fear exposure to far larger penalties in India.

Several CCI investigations, particularly into Google’s app store rules, digital advertising practices and platform bundling, could potentially lead to fines calculated on worldwide revenue.

Apple alone generates global revenue of roughly $390-400 billion annually.

Apple’s challenge comes at a time when the company is rapidly expanding in India. Apple India has reported record revenue, driven by strong demand for the iPhone 17, marking its 14th consecutive quarter of growth.

The company is expected to sell about 15.5 million iPhones in 2025, an increase of nearly 25% compared to the previous year, despite overall smartphone shipments in India declining.

Apple now dominates the premium smartphone segment with a 28% value share, supported by the iPhone 16 and 15 series, while demand for the iPhone 17 has surpassed last year’s cycle.

Globally, Apple became the world’s top smartphone brand in the first quarter of 2025 with a 19% market share, narrowly ahead of Samsung’s 18%, according to Counterpoint Research.

The global market grew modestly by 3%, driven largely by emerging markets and government subsidies in China.

Apple’s petition will test how India applies its new global turnover penalty regime to multinational corporations with vast international revenues. The outcome is likely to have major implications for ongoing and future CCI investigations, particularly those involving large technology platforms.