Apple Pay launches in India with Axis Bank as first partner after a 12 year wait

Apple Pay has launched in India. On September 30, 2026, Apple began offering its tap to pay wallet in the country through a partnership with Axis Bank, ending a wait of close to twelve years and giving the iPhone maker its first foothold in one of the world's largest digital payments markets. Axis Bank, based in Mumbai, becomes the first Indian bank to offer the service, initially to customers who hold credit cards issued on the Visa and Mastercard networks.

Reuters reported on September 30 that the launch gives Apple Pay its first foothold in India, a market the news organisation described as one of the world's largest digital payments markets. Apple Pay first went live in the United States in October 2014. India, the world's most populous country, remained one of the few major economies without the service for more than a decade, a gap that had become a recurring talking point among iPhone owners and payments analysts.

The rollout is deliberately narrow at the start. Cards on RuPay, India's homegrown card network, will not be eligible, and Apple Pay does not work with the Unified Payments Interface, the instant bank to bank system that dominates everyday payments in the country. Customers can add eligible Axis Bank cards through the bank's mobile app or directly through Apple Wallet, and then pay in stores, in apps and online using an iPhone, Apple Watch or iPad.

India's payments landscape is unlike almost any other. UPI accounts for roughly 84 percent of the country's digital payments volume, and the market is dominated by Walmart backed PhonePe and Google's GPay. Apple is stepping into that arena with a single banking partner rather than a national footprint, and with a card based product rather than the account to account rails that most Indian consumers already use every day.

Key Facts

Apple said in a newsroom update on September 30 that Apple Pay is now available to users in India across iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, with support for Mac coming soon. The company said the service lets customers pay in stores, in apps and on the web at retailers of all sizes without typing in PINs or using one time passwords at checkout. At launch, Apple Pay is accepted at millions of merchants across India, including Apple Store locations, Blinkit, Chaayos, Comet, Croma, Interflora, Ixigo, Reliance brands, Tata 1mg and Zomato.

Jennifer Bailey, Apple's vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, framed the launch around security and privacy. "India is home to a dynamic and digitally savvy population that continues to embrace a cashless future while expecting the highest standards of security and privacy, and we're so excited to bring Apple Pay to users in India today," Bailey said in a statement. Apple said that when a customer uses a card with Apple Pay, the actual card numbers are not stored on the device or on Apple servers, and are not shared by Apple with the merchant. A unique encrypted Device Account Number is stored in the Secure Element instead.

Axis Bank is the sole banking partner at launch. Amitabh Chaudhry, the bank's managing director and chief executive officer, said the launch brings greater choice and flexibility to its credit card customers across the Mastercard and Visa networks. In a separate statement he described the moment as a significant inflection point in payments, where technology, intelligent security and changing customer expectations are reshaping how people transact.

The scale of that starting point is modest relative to the market. Reuters reported on September 30 that Axis Bank had 16.26 million active credit cards in July, according to Reserve Bank of India data, trailing HDFC Bank, SBI Cards and ICICI Bank. CNBC TV18 reported on September 30 that Axis Bank is India's fourth largest credit card issuer by that measure, and that HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI Card are not expected to be part of the launch.

Apple built out the merchant side of the launch with payment service providers rather than banks alone. The company said it worked with BillDesk, Cashfree, Juspay, Mswipe, Paytm, PayU, Pine Labs and Razorpay. The Hindu BusinessLine reported on September 30 that PayU partnered with Apple to make the service available across retailers. Globally, Apple Pay is now available in more than 90 countries and regions and works with more than 11,000 bank and network partners, according to the company.

Analysis

Apple has not launched Apple Pay in India so much as it has launched Apple Pay for a slice of India. The parameters are unusually restrictive for a company that typically prefers broad debuts: one bank, two card networks, credit cards only, and no support for the rail that carries the overwhelming majority of the country's digital transactions. The bigger picture here is that Apple is buying optionality in the world's most competitive payments market rather than trying to win it outright on day one.

The sequencing says a great deal. Reuters reported on September 18 that Apple was preparing the rollout and was in talks with HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, which had not agreed commercial terms. CNBC TV18 reported on September 30 that Apple plans to add banks through bank by bank deals, so the first phase will stay narrow and each subsequent partner will negotiate its own economics. That approach protects Apple's interchange based model, but it also caps adoption until the largest issuers sign on.

The RuPay and UPI omissions are the most consequential detail. CNBC TV18 reported on September 30 that Apple Pay is card based and therefore does not work with UPI, and that Apple has not confirmed any UPI support. The same report noted that Business Standard had reported in August that Apple would need approval from the National Payments Corporation of India and a sponsor bank to offer UPI. The Hindu BusinessLine reported on September 30 that the launch came weeks ahead of an interchange fee, known in India as the merchant discount rate, being imposed on UPI payments. If that fee arrives, the economics of card rails and account rails move closer together, which is exactly the kind of shift that could make a wider push worthwhile later.

What this really means is that Apple is running a credentialing exercise. India has been a glaring blank on Apple Pay's map for a decade, and a narrow launch removes that blank while generating real transaction data, merchant integrations and issuer relationships. The company gets to test tokenisation, fraud performance and acceptance quality in a market where the competitive benchmark, PhonePe and Google's GPay, is set by UPI rather than by cards. If the unit economics hold and issuers come, Apple has a base to expand from. If they do not, the cost of the experiment was a single partnership.

Why It Matters

For Apple, India is both a manufacturing story and a consumer story, and payments sit at the intersection. Apple Pay is the piece of the ecosystem that turns a device into a wallet, and the company has spent years arguing that its Secure Element based tokenisation is safer than handing a card number to a merchant. Bringing that proposition to India's credit card base gives Apple a way to deepen loyalty among the affluent iPhone users it most wants to keep.

For Axis Bank, being first carries real marketing value. The bank is a distant fourth in credit cards behind HDFC Bank, SBI Cards and ICICI Bank, with 16.26 million active cards in July according to Reserve Bank of India data cited by Reuters. A partnership that gives its Mastercard and Visa credit card holders an exclusive feature for as long as competitors stay out is one of the few levers available to a challenger in a crowded issuing market.

For the Indian payments system, the launch is a test of whether a global card based wallet can coexist with a domestic account based network that handles about 84 percent of digital payments volume. Apple is not the first foreign wallet to try, but it is the most closely watched, and its choices about UPI and RuPay will be read by every other platform weighing the same decision.

Next Up

The immediate question is which bank signs next. Reuters reported on September 30 that HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank had held talks with Apple without agreeing commercial terms, and CNBC TV18 reported on September 30 that neither of those two nor SBI Card is expected at launch. Apple's stated model of adding banks one by one means each new issuer is a separate negotiation over interchange, customer acquisition and data.

Further out, watch UPI and RuPay. Support for either would require approvals and, in the case of UPI, a sponsor bank arrangement, and Apple has confirmed nothing on that front. In the meantime, the company has said Mac support is coming soon, and the service will continue to roll out across merchants over the coming weeks. The twelve year wait for Apple Pay in India is over. The harder work of earning a place in Indian wallets has only started.