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Apple ( AAPL ) faces growing antitrust scrutiny world over

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Match urges India watchdog to fine Apple ( AAPL ), pass order

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Apple ( AAPL ) says its a small player in India, not dominant

By Aditya Kalra

NEW DELHI, Oct 24 (Reuters) - An Apple fee of

up to 30% in India will over time stifle revenues for Match, the

owner of dating app Tinder, it said in its submission to the

Indian antitrust body, adding that hefty fines were needed to

protect its business.

Tinder is one of the biggest players in the Indian dating

apps market, which will be worth an estimated $1.42 billion by

2030, according to advisory firm MarketNtel.

Since 2022, Match has been locked in an antitrust

battle with Apple ( AAPL ) at the Competition Commission of India, where

investigators last year issued a report saying the U.S.

smartphone company had engaged in "abusive conduct" on the apps

market of its iPhone Operating System, iOS.

Apple ( AAPL ) has denied wrongdoing and said it is a small player in

India where phones mostly use Google's Android system. It did

not respond to a request on Friday for comment.

Match and the CCI also did not respond to Reuters queries.

In a response dated October 13 to the CCI investigators'

findings, which Reuters is the first to report on, Match urged

the watchdog to issue final directives asking Apple ( AAPL ) to

discontinue its anti-competitive practices.

"Apple's ( AAPL ) policies adversely affect the return on capital and

revenue streams of Match's portfolio brands," Match said in its

submissions, reviewed by Reuters.

"In the long term, the constraints and excessive fee imposed

by Apple ( AAPL ) will stifle the growth and scalability of Match's

portfolio brands," it added, without quantifying the impact.

As Apple ( AAPL ) faces antitrust scrutiny across the world, on Thursday,

a London tribunal ruled it abused its dominant position by

charging app developers unfair commissions.

'TINDER AND UBER BOTH OFFER MATCHMAKING'

Apple's ( AAPL ) smartphone base has become four times larger in the

last five years in India.

Its iOS powered an estimated 4.5% of 735 million smartphones in

India as of mid-2025, with the rest using Android, Counterpoint

Research says.

The CCI has powers to fine Apple ( AAPL ) up to 10% of its global

average turnover for the last three financial years.

Such a fine based on global turnover, not Indian, could "act

as a significant deterrent against recidivism," Match said in

its submission.

The CCI investigation team found last year that Apple ( AAPL ) was

not permitting any third-party payment processor to provide the

services for in-app purchases, where the fee could be up to 30%.

Match's latest submission cited discriminatory treatment, saying

Uber's ( UBER ) ride-hailing app was classified by Apple ( AAPL ) as providing

physical goods, and was charged lower commission than Tinder,

which is treated as providing digital services.

"Tinder and Uber ( UBER ) both offer matchmaking services in

essence," Match said in its filing.

In April, the EU watchdog said Apple ( AAPL ) must remove restrictions

that prevent app developers from steering users to cheaper deals

outside the App Store, and fined the company 500 million euros

($583 million).

Apple ( AAPL ) in June changed its App Store rules to comply with the

EU order.