Full Breakdown
Apple Pay Launches in India with Axis Bank Partnership
By Drooid · · How we work
Core Event
On September 30 2026 Apple introduced Apple Pay in India, allowing iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch users to make tap-and-pay transactions with Axis Bank-issued Visa and Mastercard credit cards. Support for Mac devices will follow. The launch marks Apple’s entry into a market where Unified Payments Interface (UPI) dominates digital payments.
Background & Context
Apple Pay debuted in the United States in 2014 and now operates in more than 90 countries. India’s payments ecosystem is dominated by UPI, which handles over 84 % of digital-payment volume. Recent RBI rules permitting biometric authentication for card payments created a technical environment conducive to Apple Pay’s token-based model. Apple cited the country’s “dynamic and digitally savvy population” as a factor in its timing.
Data & Statistics
- Axis Bank, the fourth-largest private lender, reported 16.3 million credit-card accounts outstanding as of August 2026.
- Counterpoint Research notes Apple’s share of India’s smartphone market has risen to 8 % since 2022.
- The IMF reported UPI processed 24.51 billion transactions worth INR29.82 trillion in August 2026, dwarfing the credit-card segment’s 632.45 million transactions valued at INR2.02 lakh crore earlier in the year.
- Apple Pay will initially be accepted at millions of merchants, including Apple Store locations, Blinkit, Croma, Ixigo, Reliance brands, Tata 1mg and Zomato, with additional merchants expected as PSPs such as Cashfree, JusPay, Paytm, PayU, Pine Labs, Razorpay and Worldline integrate the service.
Why It Matters / Impact
Apple Pay offers a card-centric alternative to UPI, preserving card-issuer rewards and eliminating the need for PINs or OTPs at checkout. By leveraging tokenisation and the Secure Element chip, Apple positions the service as a privacy-focused option for premium-device users. The launch could accelerate adoption of NFC-enabled terminals and expand the addressable market for credit-card payments, which have been growing at double-digit rates in India.
Official Statements & Responses
Axis Bank MD & CEO Amitabh Chaudhry described the launch as an “inflection point” that adds “greater choice and flexibility” for the bank’s credit-card customers across both networks. Visa and Mastercard representatives emphasized that tokenisation protects each transaction with a unique cryptographic token, preventing merchants from seeing actual card numbers.