Apple Pay’s long-delayed arrival in India is now close enough that Bloomberg News‘ Mark Gurman lists it as imminent. India remains one of the largest markets where Apple’s tap-to-pay system still does not work. That is about to change.
Separate reporting this week has pointed to an October start with Axis Bank credit cards first, with talks continuing with larger issuers including HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. The first phase is expected to be card-based contactless payments through Visa and Mastercard, not a full UPI rollout. UPI dominates everyday digital payments in India. Apple is likely to add that rail later, if at all in the opening wave, because the licensing and technical path is more complicated than tokenized cards.
The commercial details are still being negotiated, including fees. The pattern matches Apple’s usual country-by-country approach: launch with one or two banks, then expand. For iPhone owners in India, the practical change is simple. Instead of opening a separate payments app, they would authenticate a tap with Face ID or Touch ID using a card already in Wallet. For Apple, the launch closes a conspicuous gap in a huge market where its smartphone share has been rising.
MacDailyNews Take: The first version may start with a smaller set of banks and card payments, but it still puts Apple Pay in front of an already tens-of-millions-strong iPhone base in India — and gives Apple a foundation upon which to build.
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