Apple is in talks with major Indian banks and global card organizations to launch Apple Pay services in the world's most populous country. The iPhone maker is in talks with Industrial Credit Investment Bank of India, Housing Development Finance Corporation Bank, and Axis Bank to launch its payments service in India around mid-2026, people familiar with the matter said. The timeline remains fluid, but progress in negotiations suggests a rollout is imminent.
The above-mentioned people familiar with the matter said that Apple is also communicating with payment networks Mastercard and Visa about the plan. Apple declined to comment, and representatives from the banks and payment networks did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The planned launch of Apple Pay is another step for Apple to expand its business in this country with a population of 1.4 billion and a rapidly expanding middle class. Although Apple's market share is still small in the Indian market, which is dominated by low-priced Android devices, Apple's expanding manufacturing and retail layout in India is helping it gradually open up the market.
The Indian version of Apple Pay is expected to support both the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and bank card payments led by the Indian government. UPI allows Indian users to transfer money and pay bills instantly, and currently dominates the digital payments field in India.
The National Payments Corporation of India, which operates UPI, did not respond to a request for comment. The media has previously reported Apple’s plans to launch Apple Pay in India.
Apple’s competitors—Google’s Google Pay, Walmart-owned PhonePe, Amazon, and local Paytm—all already operate digital payment platforms in India.
The Reserve Bank of India introduced new regulations late last year to allow digital payments to use biometric authentication such as fingerprints and facial recognition. Previously, India’s payment authentication mechanism relied mainly on one-time passwords sent via text messages.
Apple Pay relies on face ID or touch ID to complete offline, website and in-app payment authorization through the "tap to pay" function.
India has more than 750 million smartphone users, low mobile data rates, and is promoted by government policies. It is one of the fastest-growing digital payment markets in the world and is expected to become an important breakthrough for Apple to increase service revenue in the region. Apple has always taken a commission from Apple Pay transactions.
Given the popularity of mobile payments in India, the launch of Apple Pay is expected to boost demand for Apple hardware products. This feature is already built into Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad and Mac devices. Apple's market share in smartphone sales in India has steadily increased to about 10%, and there is still huge room for growth.
Apple is also rapidly expanding its retail presence in India. This week, it opened its sixth store in Mumbai. Apple CEO Tim Cook has repeatedly stated that the rapid growth in sales in the Indian market is a key driving force for Apple's overall growth.
