Indian competition watchdog demands scrutinize Apple’s business | Business and Economic News

The order comes in response to allegations that Apple was abusing its main position in the app market.

India’s competition watchdog has ordered Apple Inc. to investigate its business practices in the country, saying it was initially believed the iPhone manufacturer had breached some anti-competition laws.

The order issued by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Friday came after a non-profit group complained that it was abusing Apple’s main position in the app market, forcing the developer to use a proprietary in-app purchase system.

The complainant, the Together We Fight Society, argued that setting a 30 percent fee for Apple’s application to distribute paid digital content and other restrictions is detrimental to competition, increasing costs for app developers and customers, as well as hindering market access.

The CCI said Apple’s restrictions could deny potential developers and distributors of prima facie applications market access.

“The commission is convinced at this stage that there is a prima facie case against Apple that needs to be investigated,” he said.

Apple did not respond to comments.

The company declined to comment to the CCI in November, according to Reuters news agency, and asked the regulator. throw the case, Stressing that its market share in India was 0-5 per cent “significant”.

The CCI, however, ruled that Apple’s argument about its market share was “completely misguided” because the allegations were about competition against restrictions for application developers and not end users.

The allegations are similar to a case involving Apple in the European Union, where regulators launched an investigation into the U.S. technology giant last year.

The CCI ordered its research unit to complete the investigation and order a report within 60 days. Typically, such research lasts for several months.

Watchdog is conducting a study on Google’s in-app payment system as part of a more comprehensive study of the company, following concerns from Indian startups last year.