Is Apple Pay’s India Entry Too Late?

by · Inc42

SUMMARY

  • Apple Pay has arrived in India nearly a decade after the company first spoke about bringing the service to the country. But with UPI dominating digital payments and initial rollout limited to select cards, can Apple drive more card-based transactions?
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The past fortnight has brought several developments around Apple in India. The iPhone 18 Pro and Apple’s foldable iPhone Duo began shipping, putting the company’s latest hardware in focus. But another development has drawn attention: Apple Pay, a service the company has been talking about bringing to India for more than a decade, is finally here.

Apple launched the service in India on September 30, 2026, allowing users to pay at physical stores, within apps and on websites using an iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch.

In 2016, then CEO Tim Cook during his visit to India said that Apple was looking at bringing Apple Pay to India, and had even met the then ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar to understand the bank’s views on mobile payments. Ten years later, Apple Pay is finally here, but the payments landscape has changed considerably.

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) processed 24.51 Bn transactions worth ₹29.82 Lakh Cr in August 2026, as per the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

The question is whether Apple can find room in a market where consumers already have several ways to pay.

Narrower Than The US Version

Apple Pay allows users to add eligible cards to Apple Wallet and authenticate payments through Face ID, Touch ID or their device passcode. At physical stores, they can tap their devices against compatible contactless terminals. Online, they can pay without repeatedly entering card details.

The India offering is narrower than the service available in the US, where customers can use cards from a wider range of participating banks and issuers. US users can also access Apple Cash for person-to-person money transfers, subject to eligibility. Apple has not announced a comparable service for India.

At launch, Apple Pay supports eligible Axis Bank-issued Visa and Mastercard credit cards. RuPay cards and cards from other banks are not supported under the initial rollout. This limits the number of consumers who can use the service, even among iPhone owners.

Tarun Pathak of Counterpoint Research said Apple’s entry is late from both a global launch and competition standpoint, but pointed to regulatory requirements and the relatively small size of India’s installed iPhone base as possible reasons for the delay.