Apple Pay has launched in India for the first time, through a partnership with Axis Bank, giving the payment service its first foothold in one of the world’s largest digital payments markets. Axis Bank, India’s third-largest private lender, becomes the first Indian bank to offer Apple Pay, initially to credit card customers on the Visa and Mastercard networks. Cards on RuPay, India’s homegrown payment network, are not eligible.
Over the coming weeks, Axis Bank Mastercard and Visa credit card customers will be able to add their cards to Apple Wallet, either through Axis Bank’s mobile app or directly through Apple Wallet, and start making contactless payments in stores, in apps, and online using an iPhone, Apple Watch, or iPad, with Mac support to follow. Customers authenticate transactions through Face ID, Touch ID, or a device passcode, without entering a card PIN or one-time password, and continue to receive all existing card rewards and benefits.
On security, actual card numbers are never stored on the device or on Apple’s servers, and are never shared with merchants. Instead, a unique, encrypted Device Account Number is generated and stored in the device’s Secure Element, a certified chip built specifically to hold payment data safely. Both Visa and Mastercard echoed this point in their own statements, describing their respective tokenization systems as ensuring card details stay hidden from merchants on every transaction, framing it as central to the partnership’s pitch on fraud protection.
Axis Bank is India’s fourth-largest credit card issuer, with 16.3 million cards outstanding as of August, out of 124 million nationwide, according to central bank data reported by Reuters. Apple has also held talks with larger rivals HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, but has yet to agree on commercial terms with either, Reuters reported earlier this month, suggesting Axis is likely an entry point rather than an exclusive long-term partner.
Apple Pay: What It Means
Amitabh Chaudhry, MD & CEO of Axis Bank, framed the launch as part of a broader shift already underway in how people pay. “We are at a significant inflection point in payments, where technology, intelligent security and changing customer expectations are reshaping how people transact.”
“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. The introduction of Apple Pay advances this ambition, bringing greater choice and flexibility to our Credit Card customers, with support across the Mastercard and Visa networks. As payments become increasingly embedded in customers’ everyday digital lives, our focus is on bringing together innovation and trust, while making every interaction more intuitive and relevant. More importantly, this reflects our vision of a more connected and sophisticated payments ecosystem, where technology enables convenience and confidence in every transaction,” Chaudhry said.
Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s Vice President of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, tied the India launch to the country’s already high digital adoption. “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, and we’re so excited to bring Apple Pay to users in India today,” Bailey said. “Apple Pay makes everyday payments with a card easy, secure, and private, from simply tapping to pay in stores without an extra app, PIN, or OTP to checking out online without repeatedly entering payment information.”
For most Indian consumers, this launch changes very little in the immediate term. It only applies to Axis Bank credit cards on Visa or Mastercard, a narrow slice of a market where UPI, India’s real-time bank transfer system, already accounts for 84% of digital payment volumes and is the world’s largest retail fast-payment system by transaction volume, according to a 2025 IMF report. What the launch does mark is Apple finally getting a foothold in a market it had been locked out of, and doing so cautiously, with one mid-sized bank, a narrow card base, and no RuPay support yet, rather than a broad simultaneous rollout across India’s biggest issuers.
Digital Trade Outlook: What stands out is that Apple is entering through the card layer rather than the UPI layer, where most of India’s digital payments already happen. Launching with one mid-sized issuer, on Visa and Mastercard credit cards only, while talks with HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank continue and RuPay remains out, is a measured way to test a market where UPI already sets the pace. It points Apple towards higher spending cardholders, where tap to pay on an iPhone competes less directly with UPI than it would for everyday transfers, so the real test will be whether Axis Bank customers adopt it for regular spending and whether larger issuers and RuPay follow.
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