Apple Pay’s arrival in India is not simply the delayed entry of another digital wallet. It is a test of whether a contactless card-payment system built around phones, watches, banks, card networks and point-of-sale terminals can find space in a market where UPI has made QR-code payments routine.
Apple has launched Apple Pay in India with Axis Bank as its first partner. Initially, users will be able to add eligible Axis Bank credit cards issued on the Visa and Mastercard networks to the Wallet app on compatible iPhones and Apple Watches. They can then use those devices at stores and on websites that support Apple Pay. More credit-card issuers are expected to join in the coming weeks, although the report does not establish a confirmed timetable for individual banks.
The launch comes after a decade in which Apple Pay expanded across more than 90 countries and built partnerships with about 11,000 banks and network partners globally. In India, however, the payments challenge is different. The service is entering a market where digital payments are already widespread, but the dominant habit is not contactless card tapping. It is UPI, often used through QR codes.
That distinction matters because Apple Pay is not trying to introduce digital payments to an offline market. It is trying to persuade existing digital-payment users to adopt another method, initially tied to credit cards and compatible Apple devices. Its potential therefore depends not only on the size of the iPhone user base, but also on card ownership, merchant acceptance, authentication rules and the reasons customers choose one payment method over another.
## The regulatory change behind the launch
Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice-president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, told Hindustan Times that the company needed the right regulatory framework, payments infrastructure and partners before launching in India. She identified the Reserve Bank of India’s support for biometric authentication in card payments as an important development because it allows transactions to be authenticated through Face ID or Touch ID.
The regulatory pathway developed over several years. The report says risk-based authentication mechanisms were first discussed under the RBI’s Payments Vision 2025 policy in June 2022. In February 2024, the central bank announced its intention to create a framework for authenticating digital payment transactions, followed by a draft framework in July. The RBI’s Authentication Mechanisms for Digital Payment Transactions Directions, 2025 were announced in September last year, with compliance fully implemented across the ecosystem from April this year.
For Apple Pay, this framework allows biometric confirmation or a device passcode to function as the additional authentication factor for card payments. That is significant for the user experience because the transaction can be confirmed on the device rather than through a separate physical card process. It also shows that the arrival of a global payments product depends on domestic regulatory architecture, not just a company’s decision to enter a market.
Apple Pay’s operating model is designed around tokenisation. When a customer adds a card, the actual card number is not stored on the iPhone or Apple’s servers. Instead, the issuing bank and card network create a unique device account number, which is encrypted and stored in the iPhone’s Secure Element chip. Each transaction also uses a dynamic, transaction-specific security code.
According to Bailey’s explanation in the report, the card number is not shared with the merchant. Apple also says it does not retain transaction information that can be tied back to the user, while spending information and categorisation are processed on the device. These features are part of Apple’s broader effort to position Wallet as a replacement for a physical wallet, alongside loyalty cards, boarding passes, tickets and digital keys.
## Credit cards are growing, but UPI is much larger
The strongest opening for Apple Pay is the growth in credit-card use. RBI data cited by Hindustan Times shows that India recorded 632.45 million credit-card payment transactions in August, with a total value of ₹2.02 lakh crore. Transaction volume rose 28.1% from 493.58 million in the same period of the previous year, while the value of payments increased 5.8%.
Between January and August, credit-card payment transactions reached 4.585 billion, compared with 3.643 billion during the same period a year earlier. That represents a 26% increase in volume. At the same time, the approximate value per transaction fell from ₹3,870 to ₹3,194, a decline of 17.5%.
The combination is important. Credit cards are being used more frequently, including for smaller purchases. That gives Apple Pay a potentially expanding pool of transactions in which speed and convenience could matter. A customer who already owns a credit card and an NFC-enabled iPhone may not need to change their financial relationship to use Apple Pay; they would only change the interface used at checkout.
But the scale of UPI remains the central obstacle. In August, UPI recorded 24.509 billion transactions worth ₹29.82 lakh crore. By transaction volume, that was approximately 39 times the size of credit-card payments. By value, it was around 15 times larger.
The comparison also reveals a difference in use cases. The average credit-card transaction was around ₹3,200, compared with approximately ₹1,217 for UPI. Credit cards remain associated with higher-value spending, while UPI has become a mass-market instrument for everyday payments across a much broader range of merchants and transaction sizes.
Apple Pay therefore enters India with a strong proposition in one segment but not with a direct numerical challenge to UPI. Its immediate opportunity is to make existing credit-card transactions easier for iPhone and Apple Watch users, particularly at contactless terminals and during online checkout. Whether it can expand beyond that base depends on the availability of cards, merchants and use cases.
## Axis Bank gives Apple an initial payments base
Axis Bank is a substantial first partner, but it is not the country’s largest card issuer. RBI-linked figures cited in the report put Axis Bank at 16.9 million cards outstanding and a 13.1% share, behind HDFC Bank, SBI Card and ICICI Bank. Axis accounts for roughly 11% to 12% of credit-card spending in India. Its reported share of total credit-card spending was 12.1% in the first quarter of 2026, compared with 11.1% in the fourth quarter of 2025 and 11.5% in the preceding quarter.
These figures give Apple a meaningful starting base while also showing why additional bank partnerships will matter. A single issuer cannot provide access to the full credit-card market. The report says HDFC Bank has not confirmed a roadmap, although its latest contactless-payments guidelines mention Apple Pay alongside Google Pay and Samsung Pay.
The institutional structure is consequently distributed. Apple controls the device and Wallet experience. Banks issue the cards and authenticate customers. Visa and Mastercard operate the card networks and support token creation. Merchants need compatible contactless readers or online checkout integration. The RBI sets the rules for authentication and payment security. A failure at any point can make the service less useful, regardless of how simple the customer-facing interface appears.
## The merchant network is the real behavioural test
Apple says it will work with bank and network partners to educate merchants and enable NFC payments. This is a practical requirement, not a marketing detail. Contactless payment adoption depends on whether customers can use the feature consistently at the places where they shop.
Android users already have access to contactless payments through Samsung Wallet, Google Pay, PhonePe and CRED, alongside UPI QR payments and credit-card tap-to-pay functions. Apple Pay’s launch adds another device ecosystem to that competitive field. The report also raises the possibility that Apple’s entry could eventually make NFC contactless functionality available to other payment apps on the iPhone, although that outcome has not been confirmed.
Apple’s payment process is designed to reduce steps: the user double-clicks the side button or home button, authenticates with Face ID, Touch ID or a passcode, and holds the top of the iPhone or the Apple Watch display near a contactless reader. For online payments, Apple Pay can avoid repeated entry of card details and the creation of accounts on participating websites. These are clear convenience benefits, but they only become meaningful when merchants support the option and customers recognise it at checkout.
Bailey acknowledged that changing payment behaviour takes time. Her argument is that customers who experience the convenience of Apple Pay can become regular users. That remains a company expectation rather than an established outcome in India. The available evidence confirms strong credit-card growth and a large UPI lead, but it does not yet show how many customers will shift from QR payments to NFC payments or how widely merchants will promote the option.
## What Apple Pay’s India entry reveals
Apple Pay’s launch illustrates how digital payments are shaped by an urban infrastructure stack that is easy to overlook. The visible transaction lasts seconds, but it depends on a device chip, biometric authentication, encrypted tokens, card networks, bank systems, merchant terminals and central-bank rules. The customer sees a tap; the ecosystem must coordinate several institutions behind it.
The launch also reflects a broader change in India’s card market. The number of active credit cards reached 10.7 crore in 2026, up from 2.1 crore in 2016, according to TransUnion CIBIL research cited in the report. At the same time, falling average transaction values suggest that cards are moving into more frequent, smaller-ticket use. That trend is more favourable to a fast contactless interface than a card market used only for occasional large purchases.
Still, Apple Pay’s prospects cannot be assessed through device availability alone. UPI has already solved several problems that new payment services normally address: broad consumer awareness, widespread QR acceptance and low-friction transactions across banks and apps. Apple Pay’s task is narrower but demanding. It must demonstrate that secure, biometric, contactless card payments offer enough additional value to justify a new habit.
The evidence confirms that the regulatory and institutional pieces are now in place for Apple’s entry, beginning with Axis Bank, Visa and Mastercard. It also confirms a growing credit-card market with a higher transaction frequency. What remains uncertain is whether those conditions will translate into substantial everyday use. The developments to watch are the addition of more issuing banks, the spread of merchant NFC acceptance and the extent to which iPhone users use Apple Pay beyond occasional contactless purchases.
