Apple Pay is set to launch in India with Axis Bank as its first banking partner, according to people familiar with the matter. The initial rollout will be limited: only eligible Axis Bank cards on Visa and Mastercard will be supported, and acceptance will depend on merchants and terminals that have been enabled for the service. India's homegrown RuPay network is not included at launch.
The launch comes in a market where UPI, the state-backed instant bank-to-bank payment system, handles the bulk of digital transactions. Apple Pay is card-based, requiring issuers and payment infrastructure providers to integrate with the service, which makes broad adoption more complex. Apple is reportedly seeking a fee of about 20 basis points per transaction, a significant share of the roughly 40 to 50 basis points of margin in the payments layer. HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and SBI Card are not expected to support Apple Pay at launch as commercial negotiations continue.
Despite UPI's dominance, Apple Pay could appeal to India's growing base of iPhone users, who tend to be more affluent and more likely to use premium credit cards. Even if the service remains niche, the transaction fee would give Apple another way to monetize its expanding user base in India. The company has been deepening its presence there through iPhone sales, local manufacturing, and retail expansion, and India already accounts for about a quarter of global iPhone production. The rollout may still be uneven at first, as transactions could work at some terminals but fail at others depending on the acquiring bank's integration. The source notes that Apple, Axis Bank, and the other banks did not respond to requests for comment. Since there is only one source, no independent confirmation or differing accounts are available.} ]} // extra closing? Wait, I need to ensure valid JSON. The above has an extra