India’s antitrust enforcers have drawn a line in the sand. The Competition Commission of India, or CCI, rejected Apple’s latest bid to stall its probe into App Store practices. A final hearing looms on May 21. At stake: penalties potentially reaching $38 billion, based on Apple’s global revenue. This isn’t Apple’s first brush with Indian regulators. Back in July 2024, the CCI ruled that Apple abused its dominance in the iPhone apps market. Developers, it said, faced forced use of Apple’s in-app payment system, complete with fees up to 30%. Apple denies wrongdoing. But the company hasn’t handed over audited financial statements for 2022-2024. Those documents sit at the heart of penalty calculations. Apple’s strategy? Challenge the penalty law itself. New rules from March 2024 allow fines up to 10% of global turnover, not just Indian sales. Cupertino calls this “arbitrary, unconstitutional, grossly disproportionate, and unjust,” according to its 545-page court filing reported by Reuters.…