Apple Pay Enters India With Limited Axis Bank Partnership

Apple has launched Apple Pay in India on a limited basis, starting with a partnership exclusively with Axis Bank, the country's third-largest private-sector lender, according to TechCrunch. The service currently supports only Visa and Mastercard credit cards issued by Axis Bank; it does not support India's homegrown RuPay network, Engadget reports.

While Apple claims "millions of merchants" will accept the service at launch—including Zomato, Blinkit, Croma, Tata 1mg, Ixigo, Reliance brands, Chaayos, Comet, Interflora, Le15 Patisserie, and Apple Store locations—acceptance is restricted to enabled payment terminals. TechCrunch reports that Apple collaborated with several payment service providers to enable this, including Pine Labs, Razorpay, Paytm, PayU, Cashfree, JusPay, Mswipe, and Worldline.

Market entry is complicated by the dominance of the state-backed Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which allows instant bank-to-bank transfers without cards. Unlike UPI, Apple Pay is card-based, requiring individual integration with issuers. TechCrunch reports that commercial terms have become a sticking point, as Apple is seeking a fee of approximately 20 basis points (0.2%) per transaction. This would take a significant cut of the estimated 0.4% to 0.5% margin available in the payments layer. Consequently, major institutions including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and SBI Card are not supporting the service at launch while negotiations continue.

Despite these hurdles, Apple is targeting a growing affluent user base. Counterpoint Research told CNBC that Apple's volume market share in India is expected to reach 10% this year, driven by demand for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max. According to TechCrunch, the transaction fee provides a new way for Apple to monetize its expanding presence in the region.