Apple intends to launch its Apple Pay service in India next month, with Axis Bank lined up as the initial banking partner for the rollout. The introduction is expected to begin by enabling Axis Bank credit cards, with Apple planning to add additional bank partners through a phased approach.
Executives at Apple have also held discussions with other major private-sector lenders, including HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. However, commercial terms with those banks have not been finalized, leaving the early launch focused on Axis Bank cards.
Apple Pay enables contactless payments by using tokenized card credentials stored on iPhones, allowing users to complete transactions without installing a separate payment application. The company plans to expand banking partnerships over time as the service is introduced across the market.
The move brings Apple into one of the largest digital-payments markets in the world, where the Unified Payments Interface - commonly known as UPI - represents roughly 84% of digital transaction volume. That heavy concentration of transactions on UPI frames the competitive landscape for new payment platforms seeking adoption among consumers and merchants.
Recent regulatory changes that permit biometric authentication for card payments have created a more supportive environment for card-based payment services such as Apple Pay. Those regulatory adjustments are cited as contributing factors that make a launch feasible under current rules.
Apple's hardware presence in India has also been growing. Since 2022, the company has expanded its share of the country's smartphone market to about 8%.
On the banking side, Axis Bank is a significant card issuer in India. It was the country's fourth-largest credit-card issuer, with approximately 16.26 million active cards in July, according to Reserve Bank of India data.
The planned rollout will provide Apple with direct participation in India's card-payment ecosystem, offering card-based contactless payments as an alternative to UPI-driven methods. Apple will initially rely on Axis Bank credit cards and then incrementally broaden bank support as commercial arrangements are completed.
The launch timeline, partner negotiations, and the phased nature of the rollout are central to how quickly and widely Apple Pay can establish itself within India’s payments market.