Apple has launched Apple Pay in India for the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, with Mac support to follow. It follows years of negotiating the country's complex financial legislation.
Apple Pay was first unveiled for the US back in 2014, and since then has been steadily rolling out around the world. Yet despite Eddy Cue expressly saying in 2017 that Apple was trying to bring it to India, it has taken until now to happen.
"India is home to a dynamic and digitally savvy population that continues to embrace a cashless future while expecting the highest standards of security and privacy," said Jennifer Bailey, Apple's vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet in a statement, "and we're so excited to bring Apple Pay to users in India today."
Apple Pay is initially available only via Visa and Mastercard credit cards issued by India's Axis Bank. Apple says that payments "will be accepted by millions of merchants across India," including merchant networks such as BillDesk, Cashfree, and Juspay.
"We are at a significant inflection point in payments, where technology, security and changing customer expectations are reshaping how people transact," said Amitabh Chaudhry, MD & CEO, Axis Bank. "At Axis Bank, our aspiration is to remain at the forefront of this transformation by building payment experiences that are progressive, trusted and deeply relevant to our customers."
Apple has yet to give a date for when Apple Pay will be supported on Macs in India. It has said, though, that the feature is "coming soon."
One of the reasons for the delay getting Apple Pay into India is that from June 2022, the country added extra financial laws. There was also complexity over biometric identification, as India required firms to use its Aadhaar ID system instead of Face ID.
These laws also covered online recurring payments, such as subscriptions. Specifically, they required banks to notify users 24 hours in advance of any recurring transaction, and allow them to cancel it.
That by itself won't have stopped Apple Pay, but the change was sufficient that Apple ceased accepting any debit or credit cards.
Users had to instead pay via India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI). That didn't change even when Apple opened its first Apple Stores in India back in 2023.
Starting in January 2026, it was rumored that Apple was close to getting Apple Pay in India. Then by July 2026, there were reports that Apple was again accepting card payments, and that it was part of complying with Indian regulations to help it launch Apple Pay.
