New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has refused Apple’s request to halt antitrust proceedings related to its app store practices, but allowed the company partial relief by restraining the Competition Commission of India from issuing a final order as the firm’s challenge to amended penalty rules remains pending.
The court directed Apple to cooperate in full with the ongoing CCI proceedings.
At the heart of the matter is a five-year-old antitrust complaint over Apple’s App store practices—specifically, the allegation that the company forces developers in India to use its proprietary in-app payment system, charges them commissions of up to 30 percent and operates the App store as a gatekeeper that developers cannot bypass.
The case began in December 2021 when a non-profit called Together We Fight Society filed a complaint against Apple with the CCI.
Indian startups, represented by the Alliance of Digital India Foundation and Match Group, the parent company of Tinder and Hinge, also joined as complainants.
CCI investigators concluded in July 2024 that Apple abused its dominant position by forcing developers to use its proprietary in-app purchase system. The regulator found that Apple’s App store functioned as an unavoidable trading partner for developers, leaving them no choice but to accept its terms.
Apple has denied the charges. It has also said it is a small player in India compared to Google’s Android ecosystem, which powers the bulk of smartphones in the country. Apple’s iPhone market share in India stands at around 9 percent.
The high court’s Thursday order, which was uploaded on the court’s website on Saturday, came while hearing an Apple writ petition from November 2025 in which it challenged the Competition Act, 2002, and the 2024 Monetary Penalty Guidelines, which permit penalties to be calculated on the basis of global revenue instead of India-specific or product-specific revenue.
The writ petition was heard by a division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia.
Apple, represented by senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Aditya Sondhi, had filed an application seeking to bring new documents on record and to stop the CCI from taking any action in the three separate cases—filed by Together We Fight Society, Match Group, and the Alliance of Digital India Foundation—while the writ petition remains pending.
The court accepted the documents subject to objection by the respondents.
Appearing for the CCI, senior advocate Balbir Singh told the court that while hearings would proceed, no final decision would be taken before the next date of listing.
The court recorded that statement and directed Apple to cooperate in full with the ongoing CCI proceedings.
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The financial disclosure fight
The standoff escalated after Apple refused to submit the financial data sought by the CCI since October 2024. The regulator later issued an ultimatum and scheduled a final hearing for 21 May. The CCI needs the financial data to calculate potential penalties.
Under India’s amended competition law, companies found guilty of anti-competitive practices can face penalties of up to 10 percent of their average global turnover over the past three years. Apple has argued this could expose it to penalties of as much as $38 billion.
Apple said it withheld the data on the grounds that sharing it would undermine a separate legal challenge it has filed against the penalty framework itself.
In November 2025, Apple challenged India’s entire antitrust penalty law at the Delhi High Court, arguing that the amendment to the Competition Act, which allows the CCI to calculate penalties using a company’s global turnover, unlawfully expands the regulator’s powers.
Apple’s argument in the court
Apple filed a submission with the Delhi High Court on 24 April, urging urgent intervention to halt proceedings in the CCI. The company argued that the CCI should not proceed with demands for detailed financial information while its challenge to the underlying Indian law remains pending before the same court.
Apple called the CCI’s decision to schedule a final hearing an escalation in its efforts to usurp the court’s authority.
The division bench noted that passing a final order at this stage could create complications, since Apple’s separate challenge to India’s antitrust penalty framework is still pending before the Delhi HC.
“We had issued notice only after finding something considerable in the matter. Do not make this petition (challenging the 2023 amendment to the Competition Act) infructuous. Proceed, but do not take final order,” the court said.
What happens next
The CCI’s proceedings in the three cases will continue, but the regulator is now on record before the High Court that it will not pass a final order before 15 July. Apple, in turn, is bound by the court’s direction to cooperate in those proceedings.
The outcome of the case could influence how antitrust enforcement develops in one of the world’s fastest-growing digital markets. Apple is simultaneously under scrutiny over App Store practices from regulators in the United States and the European Union.
The writ petition—challenging the broader penalty framework—remains pending. The next hearing is fixed for 15 July.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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