Apple Pay launches in India with Axis Bank in a limited first rollout

Apple is launching Apple Pay in India with Axis Bank as its first banking partner, according to TechCrunch, which reports that the service was scheduled to go live on Tuesday after years on the sidelines of the world's most populous market. The debut is deliberately small, and it arrives in a country whose payment habits have been reshaped by the state-backed Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

A deliberately narrow rollout

Per TechCrunch, citing people familiar with the plans, the first release supports only eligible Axis Bank credit cards on Visa and Mastercard. Cards on RuPay, India's domestic network, are excluded. Acceptance is similarly limited to merchants and payment terminals that have been specifically enabled for the service.

That could make early usage inconsistent. One source told TechCrunch that a transaction might succeed at a terminal operated by a payments provider that has switched the service on, yet fail at another terminal whose acquiring bank has not. Eligible Axis Bank customers can add their cards to Apple's Wallet app and use them for online purchases as well as contactless payments where terminals support it.

Card rails in a UPI-first market

Apple Pay enters a payments landscape that differs sharply from the card-heavy economies where it is well established. India's digital payments boom has been driven largely by UPI, which moves money directly between bank accounts; scanning a QR code to pay from a bank account is commonplace, and UPI handles the bulk of the country's digital transactions.

Because Apple Pay is card-based, each issuer and payments infrastructure provider must integrate with it individually, which makes a broad rollout slower and more complex. Still, TechCrunch points out that India's iPhone users tend to be more affluent and more likely to carry premium credit cards, a customer base banks may find hard to ignore even against UPI's dominance.

Fees are the sticking point

Commercial terms have reportedly held back wider bank participation. Apple is seeking roughly 20 basis points per transaction, according to TechCrunch's sources, a sizeable share of the estimated 40 to 50 basis points of margin available in the payments layer. The structure is said to be broadly consistent with Apple Pay's model in other markets. HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI Card are not expected to support the service at launch while negotiations continue.

TechCrunch said Apple, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI Card did not respond to requests for comment. An earlier Reuters report had pointed to an October launch beginning with Axis Bank credit cards.

Why it matters

Even if Apple Pay stays niche beside UPI, the economics could still matter: transaction fees give Apple another way to monetize its growing base of Indian iPhone users. The launch also fits a broader expansion in the country. Apple held 28% of India's smartphone market by value in 2025, up from 23% a year earlier, according to Counterpoint Research, and Business Standard, citing an Indian government official, recently reported that India already produces about a quarter of the world's iPhones, a share that could reach 30 to 35% within five years. For banks, the question is whether an affluent slice of iPhone owners justifies giving up part of their payments margin. For consumers, the immediate reality is a wallet that works, but only with one bank's cards and only at some terminals.