Apple Pay from Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has arrived in India after a long wait, opening a narrow but high-profile lane into one of the world’s busiest digital-payments markets. From 30 September 2026, eligible Axis Bank Visa and Mastercard credit cards can be added to Apple Wallet and used on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch for in-store taps, in-app checkout and web purchases.
Mac support is expected later.
Authentication relies on Face ID, Touch ID or a device passcode rather than a card PIN or one-time password, and card numbers are replaced by a token stored in the device’s Secure Element.
Rewards tied to the underlying card remain intact.
At launch the service is accepted at millions of merchants, including Apple Stores, Blinkit, Croma, Reliance brands, Tata 1mg and Zomato, after work with payment processors such as Razorpay, PayU, Pine Labs, Paytm and Juspay.
The rollout is tightly scoped.
Debit cards, RuPay and issuers other than Axis Bank are not supported yet.
That matters because India’s everyday payments system is not card-led.
The state-backed Unified Payments Interface processes more than 24 billion transactions a month and accounts for the large majority of retail digital volume.
PhonePe and Google Pay together handle close to four-fifths of that traffic; Paytm is a distant third.
Most Indian contactless commerce is a QR scan from a bank or wallet app, often at a kirana, auto stand or café that never installed an NFC terminal.
Cards exist and tap-to-pay terminals are spreading in organised retail, but they sit beside, not above, a near-free, bank-to-bank rail designed for tiny tickets.
That architecture differs from both China and many large Western markets. In China, Alipay and WeChat Pay dominate through closed super-apps.
Payment is embedded in messaging and shopping; QR codes still rule the street, even as NFC features grow inside those same wallets.
Cards and Apple Pay exist but are secondary for daily spend.
In the United States, United Kingdom and much of Europe, NFC tap-and-go on cards and device wallets is already a default at the till, sitting on Visa and Mastercard rails.
India split the difference: public interoperable rails, private app duopoly, QR first, cards for higher-value and credit-driven spend.
Apple Pay therefore does not displace UPI so much as sit beside it.
For iPhone owners who already carry an Axis credit card, it offers a faster checkout in apps and at NFC-ready stores without opening another payments app.
For merchants, it is another acceptance option, not a replacement for the QR sticker that captures most footfall.
Commercial terms have reportedly slowed deals with larger issuers such as HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, so scale will depend on more banks, debit and RuPay support, and—if Apple follows through on its public comments—eventual UPI integration. Until then, Apple Pay is a premium card overlay in a market whose gravity remains instant, low-cost, QR-based bank transfers.
