New Delhi: Apple Pay is finally set to come to India, nearly 12 years after Apple launched its payments service in the US.
Apple is expected to launch the service in India next month, starting with Axis Bank credit cards, according to Reuters. The company has also held discussions with HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, although commercial terms with the two lenders have not yet been finalised.
India has been one of the major markets where Apple Pay was still unavailable, despite the growing number of iPhones in the country. So what exactly is coming, which banks and cards will work with it, and what will Apple Pay mean for Indian iPhone users?
When will Apple Pay launch in India?
Apple is expected to roll out Apple Pay in India in October, with Axis Bank as its first major banking partner, according to Reuters.
The service is expected to expand gradually as Apple reaches agreements with more banks. HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank have been in discussions with Apple, but neither had finalised commercial terms as of the latest Reuters report. Apple, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank did not confirm the reported arrangements, while Axis Bank declined to comment.
This means the initial launch is likely to be much narrower than the Apple Pay service available in some other countries, where users can add cards issued by a large number of banks.
Which cards will work?
The initial rollout is expected to focus on credit cards, with Axis Bank the first major partner.
Earlier reporting by Business Standard said Apple Pay would initially support cards running on global networks such as Visa and Mastercard, rather than UPI. The service would allow users to add eligible cards to Apple Wallet and make contactless payments using an iPhone or Apple Watch.
Apple has been negotiating with banks over the commercial terms of the service. Unlike some payment apps, Apple Pay’s model involves Apple receiving a share of the economics of card transactions, with the fee paid from the banking side rather than being directly charged to the customer or merchant, according to Business Standard.
Axis Bank is the fourth-largest credit card issuer in India. RBI data cited by Reuters showed that it had about 16.26 million active credit cards in July 2026.
How will Apple Pay work?
For users, the basic experience is familiar from other countries.
An eligible credit card can be added to Apple Wallet. At a compatible contactless point-of-sale terminal, an iPhone or Apple Watch can then be held near the terminal to make the payment. Authentication can be done using Face ID, Touch ID or the device passcode.
Apple Pay does not simply hand the merchant the user’s actual card number. It uses tokenised card details stored on the device, which is one of the reasons Apple has been able to build the service around its own hardware.
A regulatory change in India has also helped make this possible. The Reserve Bank of India last year allowed biometric authentication for card payments, opening the way for systems that use authentication methods such as Face ID and Touch ID.
What about UPI?
UPI accounted for about 84 percent of India’s digital-payment volume, according to Reuters, and processed 24.51 billion transactions worth Rs 29.82 trillion in August 2026.
UPI has also recently added tap-and-pay functionality, allowing users to make payments by tapping an NFC-enabled smartphone at compatible terminals. That means Apple Pay will not be introducing contactless payments to India for the first time.
But the two systems are different. The reported initial Apple Pay rollout is centred on credit cards, while UPI primarily moves money directly through users’ bank accounts.
As for whether Apple Pay will support UPI itself, there is no confirmed launch announcement from Apple. Business Standard reported in August that UPI would not be supported at launch and that Apple would need NPCI approval and a sponsor bank to offer it.
Why has Apple taken so long?
Apple Pay launched in 2014, but India has developed a payments ecosystem quite different from the card-heavy markets where Apple Pay first became popular.
UPI has become the dominant digital-payment system, while contactless card payments have also expanded. Apple therefore has to enter a market where consumers already have several ways to pay digitally.
Apple’s own position in India has changed significantly in the meantime. Its smartphone market share has risen to about 8 percent since 2022, according to Counterpoint Research data cited by Reuters.
That gives Apple a much larger installed base of potential Apple Pay users than it had when the service first launched globally.
What is confirmed and what isn’t?
For now, the clearest picture is an October launch beginning with Axis Bank credit cards, followed by a phased expansion to other banks.
HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank have been in talks with Apple, but agreements were not finalised in the latest Reuters report. UPI support at launch has also not been confirmed, despite earlier reports that Apple was considering support for India’s home-grown payment system.
So for Indian iPhone users, the immediate change is fairly straightforward: Apple Pay is set to provide a native Apple Wallet-based way to make contactless payments with supported bank cards. The bigger question, whether Apple eventually makes UPI part of that experience, remains open.