Apple Pay launched in India on 30 September through a partnership with Axis Bank. The lender became the first Indian bank to issue cards for the service. Eligibility initially covers Axis Bank Visa and Mastercard credit cards. Cards using India’s domestic RuPay network are not supported at launch.
Customers can add eligible cards through the Axis Bank mobile application or Apple Wallet. They can then pay in shops, applications and online using supported Apple devices. Transactions are authenticated through Face ID, Touch ID or a device passcode. Reuters, citing central-bank data, reported that Axis accounted for 16.3 million of India's 124 million credit cards.
CARD PAYMENTS ENTER A UPI-LED MARKET
The service brings Apple’s tokenised card-payment system into a market dominated by the Unified Payments Interface. Reuters has reported that UPI accounts for 84% of India's digital-payment volumes. Apple Pay’s initial offer uses card networks rather than integrating with UPI.
Apple Pay works on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, with Mac support to follow.
WIDER REACH REQUIRES MORE ISSUERS
Reuters previously reported that Apple had held talks with HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, but no commercial agreement with either lender had been announced by launch day.
Merchants accepting Apple Pay at launch include Zomato, Blinkit and Croma, with support through payment aggregators such as Pine Labs, Razorpay and Paytm.