Apple Pay is set to launch in India with Axis Bank as its initial banking partner, marking Apple's entry into the world's most populous country after years of hesitation due to the dominance of UPI. The limited rollout will only support Visa and Mastercard cards, excluding India's homegrown RuPay network, and major banks like HDFC, ICICI, and SBI Card are not expected to participate at launch due to unresolved commercial terms over Apple's 20 basis point fee.
Background
India's digital payments ecosystem is dominated by UPI (Unified Payments Interface), which has achieved massive adoption and operates on a zero-MDR (merchant discount rate) model for retail transactions. Apple has long been cautious about entering India's payments market due to its card-based model clashing with UPI's bank-to-bank infrastructure.
- Source
- TechCrunch
- Published
- Sep 30, 2026 at 02:45 AM
- Score
- 6.0 / 10