India, the most populous country in the world, finally has Apple Pay. The launch is narrow, though: only one bank supports it, and it does not work with the payment system most Indians rely on every day.
Apple started rolling out the service on Tuesday. Its only banking partner so far is Axis Bank, the third-largest private-sector lender in the country. After years of delays, Apple is entering a market built around the state-backed Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and this first step looks more like a cautious test than a nationwide launch.
One bank, two card networks, zero RuPay
The service has clear limits. It supports eligible Axis Bank cards on the Visa and Mastercard networks. RuPay, India’s domestic card network, is not supported.
People familiar with the launch said eligible Axis Bank customers can add their credit cards to Apple’s Wallet app. They can then pay with Apple Pay online and at supported contactless terminals.
Customers of HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI Card can’t use it yet. According to one of the people, none of the three is supporting Apple Pay at launch because they are still negotiating commercial terms.
The 20 basis point problem
The dispute is over fees. The people said Apple wants roughly 20 basis points (0.2%) on each transaction. The payments layer only earns about 40 to 50 basis points (0.4% to 0.5%) in margin, so that would take a large share.
The people said the fee is broadly in line with how Apple Pay charges in other markets, so the request is normal for Apple. Indian banks, however, have spent years in a system where money moves between banks without any need for Apple. Several of the largest banks are clearly in no rush to sign.
Apple, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI Card did not reply to requests for comment on the launch.
Your card might work at one shop and fail at the next
Early users may find this frustrating. Apple Pay only works at merchants and payment terminals that have been enabled for it, and that coverage is uneven.
According to one of the people, a payment could succeed at a terminal operated by an independent payments provider that has turned on the service and then fail at another terminal whose acquiring bank has not. Even with a supported card in Wallet, users will likely want a backup payment method at checkout for some time.
Apple said the service would be accepted by “millions of merchants” in India, including Blinkit, Croma, Ixigo, Reliance brands, Tata 1mg and Zomato. To enable acceptance, it partnered with payment service providers including Cashfree, JusPay, Mswipe, Paytm, PayU, Pine Labs, Razorpay and Worldline.
Why UPI makes this so hard
India’s payments market is different from the U.S. and other economies that rely heavily on cards. UPI has driven most of the country’s digital payments growth. It lets people send money directly between bank accounts without using a card.
Paying by scanning a QR code linked to a bank account is common in India, and UPI carries most digital payments. Apple Pay depends on cards, so each issuer and payment infrastructure provider has to integrate with it separately. That makes a wide rollout much more complicated, and it means Apple is starting in a far smaller card payments market.
Apple is betting on the premium crowd
Apple is mainly targeting India’s growing base of iPhone owners. These users tend to be wealthier and are more likely to have premium credit cards. If enough of them want tap-to-pay, banks may find the service hard to ignore, even though UPI dominates everywhere else.
Apple Pay also doesn’t have to go mainstream to be worthwhile for Apple. The people said the transaction fee gives Apple another way to make money from its growing iPhone user base in the country.
That user base is still growing. An earlier Counterpoint Research report found that Apple held 28% of India’s smartphone market by value in 2025, up from 23% the year before. India already produces about a quarter of the world’s iPhones. Last month, the Indian English daily Business Standard reported, citing an Indian government official, that the share could reach 30% to 35% within the next five years.
Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Apple planned to launch Apple Pay in India in October, beginning with Axis Bank credit cards. The service arrived slightly ahead of that schedule, but the terms are the same. iPhone users with an Axis Bank Visa or Mastercard can add their card and try it now. Everyone else will keep scanning QR codes until their bank accepts Apple’s 0.2% fee.