Apple Pay launches in India via Axis Bank partnership

Apple has switched on Apple Pay for its users in India, allowing those with eligible Axis Bank credit cards on the Visa and Mastercard networks to make contactless payments using the service, bringing Apple’s payments service to India’s growing iPhone user base for the first time.

Only eligible Axis Bank Visa and Mastercard credit cards can be added to Apple Wallet for now. RuPay cards, which run on India’s domestic network, are not supported at launch.

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which dominates India’s digital payments market, has also been skipped by the service and excluded from the launch. UPI accounted for 84% of India’s payment volume in 2025, according to an IMF report cited by Techeconomy. The state-backed system allows its users to transfer money directly between bank accounts using a QR code.

Apple has instead decided to enter the much smaller card-based segment, with Axis Bank accounting for 16.3 million of the roughly 124 million credit cards in the country as of August, according to central bank data.

Apple bets on its iPhone owners

The launch also gives Apple another way to make money from its growing user base in India. iPhone users in the country tend to be more affluent and more likely to use premium credit cards, making them an attractive customer base for banks despite UPI’s dominance.

Apple will also earn a fee on each transaction, which ultimately creates another revenue stream from the users the company has spent years accumulating.

The terms Apple is seeking directly explain why the launch partner list remains short. TechCrunch, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Apple is asking for about 20 basis points, or 0.2%, on each transaction. That would amount to a sizeable share of the 40 to 50 basis points which ends up being the margins on each transaction in the payments layer.

The pitch is utmost privacy

Apple has stated in its newsroom post that shoppers can pay in different stores by double-clicking the iPhone’s side button, authenticating with Face ID, Touch ID or a passcode, and by holding the device close to a contactless reader. The company stated that there is no need for a separate app, PIN or any forms of OTPs at checkout.

These privacy mechanics are unsurprising and very normal for Apple Pay, as actual card numbers and details are not stored on the device or on Apple’s servers, and are not shared with merchants. Instead, a unique Device Account Number is encrypted and stored in the Secure Element chip.

According to Gautam Aggarwal, Mastercard’s president of India and South Asia, Mastercard’s tokenization technology protects each Apple Pay transaction with a unique, cryptographically secured token, keeping card details hidden from merchants.

Axis Bank presented the launch as a way to give its customers more choice and flexibility, with Apple Pay support across both the Mastercard and Visa networks, said Amitabh Chaudhry, the bank’s MD and CEO.

What works on day one, and what might not

At launch, Apple says the service will reach millions of merchants, including Blinkit, Croma, Ixigo, Reliance brands, Tata 1mg, and Zomato, alongside Apple Store locations. The company also worked with payment providers like Cashfree, Juspay, Mswipe, Paytm, PayU, Pine Labs, and Razorpay to wire up acceptance.

Coverage could be patchy at first. One person told TechCrunch that payments could work at one enabled terminal but fail at another whose acquiring bank has yet to activate the service. So cardholders with supported cards could still potentially face issues during the initial rollout.

Apple Pay now operates in more than 90 countries and works with over 11,000 bank and network partners, the company stated in its newsroom release.

Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.