Apple Brings Apple Pay to Indian Merchants via Local Payment Firms
Apple has rolled out Apple Pay in India, partnering with local payment infrastructure firms to enable merchant acceptance.
The company has named several PSPs, including Axis Bank, BillDesk, Cashfree, Juspay, Mswipe, Paytm, PayU, Pine Labs, and Razorpay, as part of the launch. These firms will allow merchants on their networks to add Apple Pay without a separate integration.
Apple Pay uses tokenisation supported by card networks Visa and Mastercard, storing a unique Device Account Number in the Secure Element chip on the device instead of the actual card number. This means that merchants and PSPs do not receive the actual card details during checkout.
The service starts with Axis Bank as the first issuing bank, supporting eligible Visa and Mastercard credit cards only. Apple Pay does not currently support UPI or RuPay cards in India, but its role in the country's payments ecosystem is likely to evolve as issuer participation and network support expand.