Overview
- Apple has petitioned the Delhi High Court to invalidate the use of global turnover for antitrust penalties, naming the Union Government and the CCI as respondents.
- Judges Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela are slated to hear the matter on December 3.
- Apple argues the regime is arbitrary and disproportionate, citing a potential maximum exposure of about $38 billion if penalties are pegged to 10% of its average global turnover.
- Parliament’s 2023 amendment to Section 27(b) defines turnover as global revenue, and the CCI’s 2024 guidelines allow global figures when relevant domestic turnover cannot be reliably determined.
- The case is a leading judicial test of India’s revised penalty framework, which departs from the Supreme Court’s earlier ‘relevant turnover’ principle and could shape future enforcement against multinationals.