Apple Pay expected to go live in India today

Apple Pay is launching in India today, nearly 12 years after its US debut, two sources told The Head and Tale. To start with, the iPhone-maker is going live with Axis Bank.

"Apple Pay is launching on Wednesday, starting with supporting credit cards from Axis Bank," one of the sources said. The margin Apple will earn from Axis Bank is expected to be finalized at 10 basis points (bps), the source added. 

Apple typically takes a share of card transaction revenue from the issuing bank rather than charging customers or merchants. Globally, it earns roughly 15-20 bps (0.15-0.20%) of transaction value.

Talks with the other major card issuers, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and State Bank of India, are still on, mostly over commercial terms. "We are not prepared for it [Apple Pay] yet," said a banker at one of these banks. On the card-network side, the launch will mostly cover Visa cards, one of the sources said.

Two weeks ago, Reuters reported that Apple Pay would launch in India in October, beginning with Axis Bank credit cards.

Apple Pay allows iPhone users make tap-and-pay purchases at NFC-enabled contactless PoS terminals, using tokenised card details stored on the device. This doesn’t require users to open any separate payments app. Users add an eligible card to the Apple Wallet app, hold their iPhone or Apple Watch near the reader, and confirm with Face ID, Touch ID or the device passcode.

India has 122.9 million outstanding credit cards. HDFC Bank is the largest issuer, with 26.9 million cards in July 2026 (22% share). SBI follows with 22.7 million (18.5%), then ICICI Bank with 19.6 million (16%) and Axis Bank with about 16 million (13.2%).

Over the last few years, Apple's base in India has grown quickly. According to IDC, it shipped about 9 million iPhones in 2023, more than 12 million in 2024, and 13-14 million in 2025, over 30 million in three years. Counterpoint Research data shows its India smartphone share has risen to about 8%.

Apple is entering a market where digital payments is already dominated by one system – UPI. Currently, UPI accounts for roughly 84% of digital payment volume in the country, processing 24.51 billion transactions worth Rs 29.82 lakh crore in August alone. Its growth rests on low-friction payments, widespread QR acceptance and interoperability across banks and apps. On the other hand, Apple Pay depends on banks, card networks and merchants with compatible terminals.

Even so, there is a general industry sense that majority affluent users, especially those on Apple devices, could drift back to cards if checkout becomes smoother than UPI.

Interestingly, the launch also comes as India's payments landscape shifts on several fronts. This month, a merchant discount rate (MDR) returned to UPI, and NPCI announced a tap-and-pay feature for contactless UPI payments to speed up checkout.

With Apple Pay on the horizon, NPCI earlier this year revived a proposal now formally called the UPI Checkout Protocol, and circulated a draft specification to banks, third-party app providers (TPAPs) and payment aggregators. Under it, merchants could let customers link their preferred UPI app and payment instruments at checkout. On later visits, customers would see their linked accounts and go straight to PIN or biometric authentication.

The proposal has drawn a formal industry objection. In a joint letter dated July 23, seen by The Head and Tale, Paytm, Navi, Cred, BharatPe, Super Money, FamPay asked NPCI to reconsider and hold wider consultations. They argued the proposal does not offer enough new customer benefit to justify its impact on UPI's architecture. They also called the Apple Pay comparison misplaced: tokenisation spared card users from repeatedly entering card details, but UPI users already don't have to enter payment credentials.

The companies also fear the framework would favour large incumbents such as PhonePe and Google Pay, which together hold over 80% of UPI volume, and the companies say the proposal would cut against the spirit of NPCI's market share cap.

It is unclear where the initiative currently stands.

With cards getting faster and UPI's zero-fee era ending, it would be interesting to watch whether UPI can stay the easiest way to pay for the customers Apple is targeting.

We will update the story once Apple and Axis Bank respond to our queries.