New Delhi: According to several reports informed, Apple is working on introducing Apple Pay in India, the first partner in the banking sector being Axis Bank. The service goes to a market dominated by UPI, the instant payments service backed by the government.
The first rollout will be a limited one. Apple Pay will be available on the Visa and Mastercard networks for eligible Axis bank credit cards, and not on India’s own card network, RuPay. The acceptance will also rely on whether the merchants and payment terminals are activated into the service.
This can result in an inconsistent first time experience. If the terminal’s acquiring bank has not enabled Apple Pay, a supported card may work at one terminal but not at the other. There will be an opportunity for Axis Bank customers to add cards to the Wallet app and use them for various online transactions and contactless payments at launch.
It’s believed that not many of the top card issuers in India are yet to enter the fray. There is a possibility that the three banks, namely the HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and the SBI Card will also launch with support for Apple Pay – albeit their commercial terms are still under discussion. Apple is looking for a commission in the low-range of the 40 to 50 basis points margin on the payments layer. Sources stated this is pretty much in line with the pricing of Apple Pay in other markets.
Apple and the banks also did not respond to requests for comment. Apple was already reportedly preparing for its October launch, which will start with credit cards from Axis Bank, according to Reuters, which reported earlier this month of the plan.Earlier this month, Reuters had reported that Apple was readying itself to launch its own brand in October starting with credit cards from Axis Bank.
While UPI works like a bank-to-bank transfer, Apple Pay is a card-based approach and thus requires each payments provider and issuer to build this integration. That makes it more difficult to roll it out in a widespread manner. Despite this, Indian iPhone users are more affluent and carry expensive credit cards that might make it difficult for banks not to be tempted to target them for some time.
The launch comes at a time when the Cupertino is aggressively pushing into the Indian market. According to Counterpoint Research, in 2025, the company accounted for 28% of the market share in the country in terms of value, against 23% the previous year. India also makes about 25 per cent of the iPhones in the world, and over five years, Business Standard reported that it would be able to produce 30-35 per cent of them.
