While Indian regulators prepare to fine Apple for alleged antitrust practices in the App Store, they have also been arguing against the company's attempts to limit any potential fine.

In 2021, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) launched an investigation into Apple's App Store practices, after a complaint from the "Together We Fight Society" (TWFS) group. By July 2024, the CCI found that Apple has "significant influence" over digital services and products.

Since then, Apple has been arguing against the CCI's findings, but at the same time has worked to cut the potential fines that are yet to be decided. According to Reuters, in November 2025, Apple asked New Delhi judges to intervene.

Apple claimed that the existing Indian law that would be used to calculate fines could lead to disproportionate penalties. The law bases its fines on global turnover, and Apple says that's unfair for issues that only happen in India.

Neither Apple's objections nor the CCI's response have been made public. But reportedly in a December 15, 2025 court filing, the CCI denied Apple's arguments.

The filing says that this law "aligns Indian competition law enforcement with established international practice."

"This approach ensures that penalties retain real deterrent value in complex, digital and cross-border markets," it continues, "rather than becoming nominal or easily absorbable for large multinational players."

India's position is that calculating fines based solely on turnover generated in the country, would not be a sufficient deterrent.

Without the full filing being made public, it's not clear what other issues Apple and the CCI have disagreed on. For instance, despite maintaining that it needs to impose fines based on global turnover, the CCI says it sought only "India-specific financial details" from Apple.

Then the CCI goes so far as to say that Apple has been attempting to misguide the courts over this issue. Apple says that the details the CCI wanted were more than India-specific, and that it is this that means a fine could be up to $38 billion.

The law in question came into force in November 2024. Separately, Apple has also accused the CCI of illegally applying the new law retrospectively.

Again, the CCI has denied Apple's position.

"Clarificatory provisions operate retrospectively as they explain the true intent of the legislature," wrote the CCI in a filing.

What happens next

The original antitrust case is now into its fifth year, and has seen multiple legal challenges by Apple attempting to halt or withdraw India's findings. For example, in July 2024, the CCI released a report accusing Apple of antitrust, but in August 2024, the company made the regulator withdraw that report.

Apple managed to do that because, it claimed, the report included privileged and sensitive information that the regulator did not have the right to publish. It's not clear how the CCI dealt with this issue, but in January 2025, the regulator was reported to be ready to accuse Apple of the anticompetitive practices.

However, Apple appeared to manage to delay the accusation still further, as in November 2025, India was denying the company's requests to hold the report.

The report and a final fine has still yet to be released, a year after the CCI's was originally believed to have concluded its case. What happens next is that on January 27, 2026, the Delhi High Court will hear the lawsuit regarding how fines are calculated.