India's antitrust watchdog, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), told the Delhi High Court that fines calculated on a company's global turnover will better stop violations by multinational companies like Apple. Apple challenged this 2024 law in November, asking judges to strike it down. The law could affect giants such as Pernod Ricard, Publicis, and Amazon as well. The CCI argues the law "aligns Indian competition law enforcement with established international practice." It claims using only India-specific turnover to calculate penalties "fails to deter" global digital firms effectively. The regulator said this method "ensures penalties retain real deterrent value in complex, digital and cross-border markets, rather than becoming nominal or easily absorbable for large multinational players." Apple opposes the law, saying it can cause "disproportionate fines for breaches that happened only in India" and fears a fine as high as $38 billion in an ongoing CCI investigation regarding its app store abuse claims, which Apple denies. Apple also accuses the CCI of illegally applying the new law retrospectively, but the CCI said the law only clarifies its existing power to fine up to a tenth of a company’s turnover. The CCI added, "Clarificatory provisions operate retrospectively as they explain the true intent of the legislature." The CCI further accused Apple of trying to mislead the court, noting that despite powers to use global turnover for penalties, it had requested only India-specific financial details. Apple counters that providing these details could expose it to much higher fines. The Delhi High Court is scheduled to hear Apple's challenge on January 27, 2026.