Apple agrees to reveal India revenue in order to avoid massive $38B fine

Apple has agreed to reveal its revenue in India so that the government can calculate how much it should be fined for antitrust violations.

The company was found guilty of exploiting its dominant position in iPhone apps back in 2024, but the company initially refused to reveal financial data within the country. That potentially left it facing the world’s last largest antitrust fine of a massive $38 billion …

The usual Apple antitrust battle, with a twist

Apple has faced antitrust legislation, competition regulator investigations, and lawsuits around the world. All of these essentially come down to the same issue: edge cases aside, the only way you can buy an iPhone app in most countries around the world is from the official Apple App Store.

That allows the company to set its own commission rates, and developers have no choice but to accept them if they want to offer their apps on iPhone. Many countries have held this to be an abuse of Apple’s dominant position in the market.

Apple argues that it isn’t a dominant player in the smartphone app market as a whole, as Android is a larger segment than iOS. In general, regulators have ruled that iPhone is a large enough market on its own to put Apple in a dominant position. There is, however, a twist in India because Apple’s market share there is still relatively low. At the time the company was found guilty, its market share in the country was just 4% – though it has since risen to 9%.

Apple risked $38B antitrust fine

As is the case in many countries, the upper limit for antitrust fines is calculated as a percentage of revenue. The Indian government asked Apple to hand over financial information, and the company refused.

Back in April, the government shrugged and said that it would use its own estimates if Apple refused to comply, and that the fine could be as high as $38 billion. That would have made it the highest antitrust fine in the world.

Apple now complying

Reuters today reports that the Cupertino company has now agreed to hand over the required information after a judge ordered it to do so.

Apple has agreed to submit the financials of its India ‌business to the country’s antitrust body as part of an investigation that found the U.S. firm abused its market position, taking the long-delayed case a step closer to a potential penalty decision, an agency order shows […] A judge last month told Apple to “cooperate”.

9to5Mac’s Take

We’ve observed previously that this seemed a somewhat strange battle, as initially the Indian government asked for Apple’s global turnover, which is of course a matter of public record. It was therefore unclear why the government asked for this data and why Apple refused to deliver it.

However, the latest report does say that the Indian government asked for domestic revenue at some point along the way, and it was likely this information that Apple was seeking to protect.

Photo by Guillaume Bleyer on Unsplash