Mumbai: Apple is preparing to launch its Apple Pay service in India next month, initially supporting credit cards issued by Axis Bank, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The move would bring Apple’s payment service to one of the world’s largest markets and one of the few major economies where it is not currently available.
The rollout is expected to begin with Axis Bank as Apple’s first major banking partner in India. The Mumbai-based lender is the country’s fourth-largest credit card issuer.
Apple is also in talks with HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank to expand Apple Pay support, although commercial terms have not yet been finalised, according to two of the sources.
Apple Pay enables iPhone users to make contactless payments using tokenised card details stored on their devices, without opening a separate payments application.
Expanding bank partnerships
Apple plans to add more lenders through individual agreements over time, following a phased approach used for the service in other markets, one of the sources said.
The company’s expansion comes as its presence in India’s smartphone market has grown. Apple’s market share has doubled to 8 percent since 2022, according to Counterpoint Research, making India an increasingly important market for the company.
Apple Pay will enter an Indian digital payments market dominated by the homegrown Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which supports payments through QR codes, phone numbers and contactless transactions.
UPI accounted for 84 percent of India’s digital payments volume, according to the latest report. A regulatory change by the Reserve Bank of India allowing biometric authentication for card payments has also enabled Apple Pay to work with Indian bank cards using Face ID and Touch ID.
Axis Bank had 16.26 million active credit cards in July, according to RBI data, trailing HDFC Bank, SBI Cards and ICICI Bank in card issuance.
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