India Watchdog To Retract Report Alleging Apple Market Abuse

(Bloomberg) --

India's antitrust regulator will withdraw a report that found Apple Inc. abused its dominance of the domestic market, backtracking for now from its high-profile investigation into the US company.

An arm of the Competition Commission of India conducted an initial investigation this year and found Apple exerted significant influence over the provision of digital products and services to consumers, according to people familiar with the matter. But the agency is withdrawing the probe report after Apple protested that it contained sensitive, privileged information, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing non-public discussions.

It's unclear whether the regulator can now seek to revive the probe, which would likely require restarting the process. As a next step, the CCI could release a copy of the report which omits the confidential information. All of this would effectively delay the matter at the regulator.

The privileged information which Apple shared with the director general of investigation includes business data such as India sales numbers which the company does not publicly disclose, according to another person who is aware of the matter. The details were provided to help with the probe and were intended to be private.

Representatives for the watchdog didn't immediately respond to a request for a comment while Apple declined to comment.

Tech giants are grappling with growing scrutiny from regulators around the world, who accuse Apple and its peers of unfairly sustaining their dominance of markets from mobile apps to content. The India probe focused on Apple's billing practices in the mobile apps market, where it competes against rivals such as Google.

Apple is defending its app policies on multiple fronts, including a lawsuit at home in the US and via challenges in Europe, South Korea and Japan. It has consistently argued its commissions are justified by the security and peace of mind that the app store provides users, while giving developers a global showcase.

In India, the company controls just a single-percentage share of the 690 million-strong smartphone market, which is led by other foreign brands. Reuters first reported the recall of the probe report Tuesday and the findings of the investigation, which were not public and shared only internally with regulators, last month.

But the country is increasingly an important manufacturing base for Apple, which is seeking to lessen its reliance on China at a time of escalating geopolitical tensions.

--With assistance from Shruti Srivastava and Ville Heiskanen.

(Updates with details on privileged information in fourth paragraph)

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