Apple’s India global capability centre, Apple Operations India, has hit a compliance snag in its first full year of operations. Statutory auditor SR Batliboi & Associates has flagged issues in the way the company backed up its financial data and maintained audit trails for its electronic books of account. The comments, disclosed in recent filings, note that daily backups and complete, tamper-evident logs weren’t consistently in place — a notable lapse as India tightens rules around digital record-keeping and audit transparency.
Apple has since told stakeholders that it has fixed the gaps, rolling out systems that bring the GCC in line with the latest Companies Act and MCA requirements. These rules make edit logs and secure electronic record retention mandatory. The centre plays a key role in Apple’s global operations, handling equipment procurement and employing engineers who support R&D and other back-end functions, so strong data controls are more than just a compliance box to tick.
Backup and audit trail gaps flagged
In its report, SR Batliboi & Associates pointed to shortfalls in daily data backups and in audit logs that track when entries are created, changed, or deleted. The observations don’t hint at financial irregularities, but they do show that Apple’s India GCC hadn’t fully upgraded its internal systems to meet the more stringent audit trail standards increasingly expected from large tech companies.
Apple moves to tighten compliance
After the auditor’s remarks, Apple Operations India introduced new processes and technology designed to meet Indian requirements around traceable, time-stamped audit logs and reliable daily backups. The company has stressed that these issues were first-year growing pains rather than signs of deeper compliance problems.
Why the GCC matters
Unlike Apple’s retail and device business in India, the GCC functions as a back-end engine for the company’s global operations. It sources specialised equipment and houses engineers who support R&D and worldwide technical mandates. Because such centres often handle complex inter-company transactions and sensitive infrastructure, regulators view them as critical points where any control failure could have ripple effects on tax, transfer pricing, or governance.
A warning for other multinational GCCs
The episode also sends a signal to other multinational captives in India: rapid expansion can’t come at the cost of compliance. With the MCA and auditors placing more weight on the integrity of digital audit trails and electronic evidence, companies should expect tougher questions about whether their Indian back offices are meeting not just global standards, but India-specific technical rules as well.
