Apple Pay Enters Indian Market with Axis Bank Partnership

Apple has entered India's digital payments market over a decade after launching Apple Pay globally. The company is betting on the rapid expansion of NFC-enabled terminals, rising card usage, and a regulatory framework supporting biometric authentication to carve out a space for card payments alongside UPI.

The service is initially available with Axis Bank-issued Visa and Mastercard credit cards. Apple aims to expand to more banks as their technical readiness and card portfolios allow, making the service available to as many customers as possible through additional issuer partnerships.

Jennifer Bailey, Apple's vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, said that Apple Pay and UPI are complementary rather than directly competing payment systems. The company believes card payments have a distinct role to play in India's digital payments landscape.