New Delhi, Dec. 17 -- The Delhi High Court on Tuesday deferred the hearing in Apple Inc.'s challenge to India's revised competition law provisions that allow penalties to be calculated on a company's global turnover, pushing the matter to January 27, 2026. A bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela adjourned the proceedings after senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Apple, sought time to respond to a joint affidavit filed by the Centre and the Competition Commission of India (CCI). The court directed the Centre and the CCI to place the affidavit on record within a week and granted Apple liberty to file a counter. The contents of the affidavit are not yet public, but it seeks to justify computing penalties on the basis of global turnover rather than India-specific revenue. The case stems from Apple's constitutional challenge to amendments introduced through changes to Section 27(b) of the Competition Act in 2023 and the Monetary Penalty Guidelines notified in 2024. These provisions empower the CCI to impose fines of up to 10% of a company's average global turnover over the preceding three financial years. On December 1, the high court had issued notice to the Union government and the CCI, asking them to explain why penalties should be linked to global turnover instead of India revenue. The bench had declined to issue any direction on the CCI's request that Apple be compelled to submit its financial details by December 8, and also refrained from commenting on Apple's plea seeking protection from potential coercive action by the regulator. Apple approached the high court in November after the CCI sought its financial statements as part of an ongoing investigation into the company's App Store payment policies. That probe follows complaints filed between 2021 and 2022 by NGOs, Indian startups and Match Group, the owner of Tinder, Hinge and OkCupid, alleging that Apple abused its dominant position....