Apple Pay Finally Launches in India: 12 Years After It Launched Everywhere Else

Apple Pay debuted in the US back in 2014. It took twelve years, but it finally arrived in India on September 30, 2026 — making India one of the last major smartphone markets to get a service Apple users elsewhere have had for over a decade. The wait is over, but the actual rollout comes with enough caveats that it’s worth understanding exactly what you’re getting before assuming this changes how you pay for things day to day.

What’s actually live right now?

Apple‍‍‍ Pay is currently working in India with just one bank that too, only with the bank’s Visa and Mastercard credit cards of Axis Bank. So, without an Axis Bank credit card on a Visa or Mastercard card, Apple Pay still remains unavailable as a payment mode to the customers, irrespective of the kind of iPhone they may have. The platform is currently being offered across iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac, of which Apple has confirmed later Mac support, not at the time of launch of these products.

Customers of Axis Bank who meet the conditions and are eligible can insert theircredit cards in Apple Wallet through the Apple Wallet app directly, or through Axis Bank’s mobile banking app. After this, the added card can work for contactless in-store payments at supported terminals as well as online purchases. It is the same convenient tap-to-pay andin-app Apple Pay experience that Apple Pay users in other countries have had for ‍‍‍years.

What’s conspicuously missing?

Two absences are worth flagging clearly, because they shape how useful this actually is for the average Indian smartphone user right now. First, there’s no RuPay support — India’s homegrown card network, which a huge share of Indian debit and credit cards run on, isn’t part of Apple Pay at launch. Second, and more significantly, there’s no UPI integration. Given that UPI currently handles roughly 84% of all digital transaction volume in India, launching without UPI support means Apple Pay is entering the market without access to the payment rail most Indians actually use most of the time.

HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and SBI Card — three of India’s four largest credit card issuers, all bigger than Axis Bank by card count — are also absent at launch. Reporting from TechCrunch indicates commercial terms between Apple and these banks are still being negotiated, with one source specifically describing ongoing talks over a transaction fee Apple wants on every domestic Apple Pay payment as one sticking point holding up broader bank participation.

Why Axis Bank specifically, and why now?

Axis‍‍‍ Bank is the fourth-biggest credit card issuer in the country. As on July 2026, it had approximately 16.26 million active credit cards, per figures released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

We’re following behind HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and SBI as credit card market leaders. Apple’s Apple Pay launch elsewhere in the world has been characterized by a consistent strategy that consists of a step-by-way-of-banks rollout, rather than an immediate and comprehensive cooperation with the big lenders in a country, and India is also adopting that launch manner.

A regulatory change seems to have been the final trigger regarding time: Reserve Bank of India’s granting of approval for biometric authentication for card payments, done the previous year, which is often cited as the necessary groundwork done so that Apple could finally introduce the service on the Indian market.

It has been reported that Apple and Axis Bank, HDFC Bank as well as ICICI Bank have held talks way back from February 2026 with a proposed launch plan in the middle of ’26 that eventually got delayed and finally came in ‍‍‍September.

Where you can actually use it?

Despite the narrow bank support, Apple has indicated acceptance is broad on the merchant side: the company says millions of merchants will accept Apple Pay at launch, specifically naming Apple Store locations, Blinkit, Croma, Reliance-owned brands, Tata 1mg, and Zomato among confirmed accepting merchants. That’s a genuinely solid starting list spanning grocery delivery, electronics retail, pharmacy, and food delivery — meaning the practical limitation right now isn’t where you can use Apple Pay, it’s whether your specific card qualifies to be added to it in the first place.

What Axis Bank and Visa said about the launch?

Axis Bank’s MD & CEO Amitabh Chaudhry framed the launch as part of a broader strategic push, saying the bank aims to “remain at the forefront” of a payments landscape being reshaped by technology, security, and shifting customer expectations. Visa’s Group Country Manager for India and South Asia, Suresh Sethi, called the launch “a defining moment” for digital payments in India — notably enthusiastic language for what is, in practical terms, still a fairly limited rollout confined to one bank’s credit cards on two card networks.

What this actually means if you’re deciding whether it matters to you?

If you’re an Axis Bank Visa or Mastercard credit card holder with an iPhone or Apple Watch, Apple Pay is genuinely usable for you right now — add your card to Wallet and you’re set for both contactless and online payments. For everyone else, including the large majority of iPhone users in India who rely on UPI apps like Google Pay, PhonePe, or Paytm for the bulk of their digital payments, this launch doesn’t change anything in your day-to-day routine yet. Apple Pay isn’t positioned as a replacement for UPI-based payments in India — it’s an additional option, for now available to a genuinely narrow slice of the market.

Whether that changes meaningfully depends on two things worth watching: whether Apple reaches commercial agreements with HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and SBI Card to expand bank coverage, and whether Apple eventually adds UPI support — something Apple hasn’t ruled out, but also hasn’t confirmed a timeline for. Until either of those things happens, Apple Pay’s India launch is a genuinely significant symbolic milestone — ending a 12-year wait — more than it is an immediately transformative addition to how most Indians actually pay for things.

Bank partnerships, supported networks, and feature availability can change as Apple expands its India rollout. Check Apple’s official India support pages for current eligibility before assuming your specific card is supported.