Apple accuses India investigators of copying and pasting findings from rivals

Apple appeared to be finally cooperating with India’s antitrust regulator, but now says it can show that the country’s three-year investigation consisted of simply copying and pasting claims from rivals.

In 2021, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) began investigating Apple after receiving a complaint against its App Store fees. In 2024, it accused Apple of antitrust practices, and the company has been consistently arguing against that ruling ever since. Now ahead of a further closed-door hearing with senior CCI officials, Apple has submitted its own accusations.

According to Reuters, Apple’s submission includes the claim that the CCI’s investigators “blindly replicated” a consumer spending graphic from an EU rule. Apple’s submission reportedly also includes tables comparing the CCI’s report to filings from opponents in the case, such as rival Indian payment firms.

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

Apple also claims that during the three-year investigation, the CCI did not give it “a single opportunity to record its statements and provide oral evidence.”

Consequently, Apple claims that India failed to properly conduct its own investigation, and therefore its findings should be quashed.

Apple opened its first-ever store in India in 2023 – image credit: Apple

According to Apple, this refusal to allow it to contribute to the investigation, contrasts with how Google was given multiple opportunities to defend itself during a similar case.

During that case, Google also argued that the CCI had copied and pasted parts of a European ruling. The regulator denied this.

Twin Indian cases

This submission from Apple concerns the accusation that it has practiced antitrust behaviors in India. That accusation is at the stage where Indian regulators intend to determine the extent of its fine against Apple.

Those regulators have repeatedly claimed that Apple has been trying to stall the case. Apple had refused to supply global financial documents for the 2022-2024 period in question, although in early June 2026, the company agreed to cooperate.

However, Apple was stalling specifically because this antitrust fine is based on an Indian law that the company is separately contesting. This law is what allowed India to base its fine on Apple’s global turnover, rather than solely local, and this is how Apple estimated it could be fined $38 billion.

The law, though, came into effect during 2024 so Apple has been arguing in a New Delhi court that it should not be applied to the whole 2022-2024 period in question.

Apple had seemingly hoped to delay providing global financial records while this separate case was continuing. India denied this, but appeared to have agreed to Apple only submitting local accounts.

When Apple finally stopped resisting the submission, it asked for a “final extension” to prepare these local Indian turnover details. This extension took the case up to June 25, 2026, which is when Apple then filed this new accusation of the CCI’s copying and pasting reports.

What happens next

Apple’s case in the New Delhi court concerning the application of the new law to the whole period in question appears to be continuing. There are as yet no scheduled further hearings, however.

The CCI and Apple are scheduled to hold a closed-door hearing on July 21, 2026.

It’s not clear why Apple has waited until this point to question the validity of the Indian investigation. But the similar accusation made by Google had no effect on the CCI’s ruling against it in 2023.

This is all now taking place as India is becoming an ever-more significant part of Apple’s business. Health regulators are examining the Tata iPhone plant in the country, and the same firm was recently the victim of a cyberattack.

Yet, iPhone production in the country is rapidly increasing.

Apple only began assembling iPhones in India in 2017, and then it was solely to produce the iPhone SE for sale in the country. As of March 2026, though, one in four iPhones worldwide was made in India.