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Kumar Utkarsh
Kumar Utkarsh is a journalist, technology observer, and cricket enthusiast with over three years of experience in the media industry. Currently serving as a Sub-Editor at India Dot Com English, he cov ... Read More
Apple Inc. is reportedly reaching out to banks in India in preparation for launching Apple Pay in the country possibly by mid-next year, Bloomberg and other media outlets reported citing people familiar with the matter on 26 February.
India is home to hundreds of millions of digital payments users. Over the past several years, Apple has held talks with India’s largest private lenders including ICICI Bank Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd. and Axis Bank Ltd., the people said, asking not to be identified as discussions are private.
Apple has also met with representatives from credit card networks Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. about supporting their rails in India, according to the reports.
Representatives for Apple declined to comment on the report. Emails and phone calls seeking comments from the Indian banks remained unanswered till the time of publishing.
If introduced, Apple Pay will let iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch customers make purchases through their devices. In India, it is also likely to support card payments as well as the country’s Unified Payments Interface or UPI.
UPI is an instant real-time payment system developed by National Payments Corporation of India that facilitates inter-bank peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers. UPI-enabled payments can be made using a mobile device, requiring just a UPI ID.
Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, and WhatsApp Pay are some of the big names in India’s digital wallet space.
India is one of the fastest-growing digital markets in the world with over 750 million smartphone users.
In terms of smartphone shipments, Apple currently has just a 3% share of the market in the country which is led by firms selling Android-powered devices.
Apple recently announced plans to open a second store in New Delhi by year-end and is also doubling down on production in India. Ahead of its second-quarter earnings results next month, analysts will be closely watching how Apple increases its share of the smartphone market in the country.
“We expect Apple Pay to support both card payments as well as the country’s UPI system. Cards can likely plug into existing relationships Apple is working on with local banks and payment network giants Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc., while UPI will require partnerships with fintech firms,” BloombergQuint writes.
“Asian markets such as India offer considerable growth potential for Apple Pay,” said Neil Simser, founder of wealth management firm BenignAI. “Apple Pay transaction volumes in India tend to be smaller as opposed to payments in the US and Europe. However, the frequent nature of these transactions provides an opportunity for Apple to grow its services revenue from payments.”
Apple is reportedly targeting a mid-2026 launch date for Apple Pay in India. However, there has been no official confirmation from the iPhone-maker on this front.
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