Apple Prepares to Launch Apple Pay in India Next Month
Apple is gearing up to launch Apple Pay in India next month, starting with Axis Bank credit cards. The phased rollout will enable the company to test demand and authentication before adding more banks. A recent RBI rule change allows biometric authentication for card payments, which was a major regulatory obstacle to Apple Pay's launch.
The initial offering will only cover Visa and Mastercard credit cards, not India's dominant Unified Payments Interface system. This limits Apple Pay's addressable market in the country. UPI accounts for around 84% of India's digital-payment volume and serves over 550 million users.
Axis Bank has approximately 16.26 million active credit cards, giving Apple a meaningful group of initial users despite being the fourth-largest issuer in the country. The company can use this launch to test demand and merchant acceptance before expanding to other banks.