Affiliate Disclosure
If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our ethics policy.

Indian regulators set to accuse Apple of anticompetitive practices

India's CCI will say it's found anticompetitive practices with Apple's App Store

The Competition Commission of India is reportedly set to announce its finding that Apple has committed antitrust violations with the App Store, and has informed the company.

A group called "Together We Fight Society" (TWFS) complained to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in 2021 about Apple's App Store rules and fees. In July 2024, the CCI made a preliminary conclusion that Apple had abused its position of power over digital services and products.

As part of that 2024 announcement, however, Apple said that the CCI had disclosed privileged and sensitive information, such as sales numbers. The CCI's 142-page report was not made public, but still it was circulated to some parties, including the TWFS.

Apple not only objected to this information being disclosed, it then accused the TWFS of failing to provide assurance that the report had been destroyed. The company therefore asked the CCI "to take action against the TWFS for non-compliance with its order."

However, Apple also asked the CCI to withdraw the report and close its investigation. In response, the CCI said that "Apple's request to hold the investigation report in abeyance was deemed untenable."

Now according to Mint, the CCI has both continued and is now concluding its case.

Two unspecified sources say that the CCI believes Apple has broken India's anticompetitive laws through requiring developers to use its in-app payment systems. While the CCI has yet to formally announce its findings, the sources say that it has informed Apple.

Apple has reportedly been sent a confidential version of the CCI's report in order to assist the company in preparing a defence. This is said to be the penultimate step before there are last hearings and a final adjudication.

What happens next

It's not known how long the CCI intends to give Apple before announcing its findings. Nor is it known whether the regulator will impose fines.

In its forthcoming defence, Apple is expected to repeat a previous claim that its market share in India is an "insignificant" one. Its share is at most 5%, so Apple will probably continue to argue that it has no dominant position to abuse.

However, the CCI has previously directed Google to allow third-party payment systems on the Google Play Store. So it is likely that Apple will be required to open up its App Store in the same way as it has in the European Union, and later in Japan.



6 Comments

9secondkox2 9 Years · 3165 comments

New sheriff in town. Let’s see how that works out for India. 

Sabotaging American success isn’t the “in” thing anymore. India is about to learn the hard way. 

And this after Apple gave the country a pathway to economic upturn. So sad. 

lam92103 5 Years · 150 comments

Good. Apple's practices of forcing App Developers to use only their payment system, are clearly anti-competitive. Glad that someone is holding them accountable

lam92103 5 Years · 150 comments

New sheriff in town. Let’s see how that works out for India. 
Sabotaging American success isn’t the “in” thing anymore. India is about to learn the hard way. 

And this after Apple gave the country a pathway to economic upturn. So sad. 
They can always shut shop and leave. Apple is anyway a minority in the Indian market, with like 7-8% of market share.

But they won't. There are over a billion potential customers, and India is the fastest growing market in the world at 7% growth. Setting up factories there is the only way to avoid the 30% customs duty and to be able to compete with Android on price.

Apple needs India more than India needs them.

sflocal 17 Years · 6142 comments

lam92103 said:
Good. Apple's practices of forcing App Developers to use only their payment system, are clearly anti-competitive. Glad that someone is holding them accountable

As a developer myself, your comment just reeks of so much ignorance that I'd be wasting too much of my life explaining to you why it is.  You're  just not worth it.

JinTech 10 Years · 1064 comments

sflocal said:
lam92103 said:
Good. Apple's practices of forcing App Developers to use only their payment system, are clearly anti-competitive. Glad that someone is holding them accountable
As a developer myself, your comment just reeks of so much ignorance that I'd be wasting too much of my life explaining to you why it is.  You're  just not worth it.

As a non-developer, I agree with you. As a consumer, I side with Apple. For so many reasons. 

I think Apple needs to come out with a blanket terms in every country that they do business with that "this is how we operate, deal with it or we do not do business in your country." I mean obviously, do not abuse privileges but, yeah. People do have a choice in which platform they use, and generally speaking, people are very aware of Apple's stance on everything. If you don't like it, there is an alternative. I think foreign governments at this point just see this as a tactic to monetize off of Apple.

The one video I love to show people is where the solo developer of a video editor app made for iPhone gave his parents an envelop for Christmas one year. His parents puzzled, but opened it and immediately broke out in tears. It was a check to pay off his parent's mortgage. The dude, a solo developer, made an iOS app that was so successful he was able to pay off his parent's mortgage. Clearly the system works for Apple, developers and consumers. Apple has a right to charge a fee for a product that they provide and last time I checked, Apple was a for-profit company.