Apple has asked an Indian court to stop the country's ‍antitrust watchdog ‍from seeking its global financial records as part ​of an investigation into its app store policies, while it challenges ⁠the underlying law's validity, court papers show.

Apple is locked in a high-stakes ⁠legal battle ‌with the Competition Commission of India (CCI), whose investigation accused the company of abusing its position on its ⁠app store. Apple denies the allegations.

Apple and the CCI did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

The U.S. tech giant has said it fears it could be ⁠fined up to $38 billion if ​the watchdog uses its global turnover calculation for penalties. It has challenged the ‍2024 penalty rules in an Indian court, and the matter is pending.

Still, ​the CCI pressed ahead and sought financials from Apple in a private order on December 31, and Apple has now asked a Delhi High Court judge to direct CCI to not act against the company at this stage, and put the entire investigation on hold, according to a January 15 Apple filing which is not public.

Apple argues that being forced ⁠to comply now would defeat its main ‌legal challenge against India's penalty rules, which the CCI has defended as necessary to discourage breaches by multinationals.

The Delhi ‌High Court ⁠is scheduled to hear the matter on January 27.

(Reporting by Aditya ⁠Kalra and Munsif Vengattil Editing by Tomasz Janowski)