By Aditya Kalra
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s antitrust regulator has ordered an unusual recall of reports on an investigation that found Apple had violated competition laws, after the U.S. giant complained that its trade secrets were being shared with rivals including Tinder owner Match.
This move will extend a process that began in 2021 and is already plagued by delays. The focus is on the alleged abuse of Apple’s dominant position in the app market to force developers to use the company’s own in-app purchasing system for a fee of up to 30 percent.
In a confidential order dated August 7, first reported by Reuters, the antitrust authority ordered all of Apple’s opponents in the case to return the reports.
“It is imperative that such information is kept confidential and that no unauthorised disclosure takes place,” the CCI said in a four-page order signed by its four top officials.
The order did not specify what confidential information Apple was seeking.
However, a source familiar with the matter said Apple was concerned about its App Store revenue and market share figures in India.
In July, Reuters reported that two antitrust reports from 2022 and 2024 found that Apple had abused its dominant position in the market for app stores for its iOS operating system.
Among those now being asked to return the reports are Match and Indian startup group ADIF, which represents financial giant Paytm.
The order was a follow-up to Apple’s private complaint to the CCI that versions of reports provided to the parties had disclosed “confidential, commercially sensitive information of Apple” and said the regulator must “recall and withdraw” them.
Apple and Match declined to comment. India’s competition regulator, the Competition Commission, and Indian startup group ADIF did not respond to requests for comment.
Such a recall of reports once distributed is rare and would require revision by deleting information deemed confidential, said three Indian lawyers familiar with the CCI process and a government source with direct knowledge.
“This is completely outrageous… We can easily expect a delay of two to three months,” said one of the lawyers, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The CCI reports on Apple – one from 2022 and one from 2024 – were the most critical phase of the Indian investigation.
Following the parties’ response, the CCI would normally have decided on fines or, if necessary, a change in Apple’s business practices.
Apple is under antitrust pressure around the world. In June, European Union antitrust authorities said the company had violated the bloc’s technology rules, which could cost the iPhone maker a hefty fine. Apple is also facing an investigation into new fees imposed on app developers.
The CCI’s first report in the Apple case was written in 2022 but was sent back for further internal investigation, confidential legal documents show.
This has now been revisited with the latest 2024 report, which concluded that Apple had engaged in “abusive behavior and practices” and that its payment policies “have a detrimental impact on app developers, users and other payment processors.”
Apple denies any wrongdoing and says the company was a minor player in India, where phones running Google’s Android system predominate.
According to Counterpoint Research, by mid-2024, about 3.5% of the 690 million smartphones in India will run on Apple’s iOS, with the rest running on Android. However, the firm adds that Apple’s domestic smartphone base has grown five times larger in as many years.
(Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
