Apple Pay Set To Enter India By Mid-2026; Tech Giant Already In Talks With Banks

Apple is reportedly in advanced discussions with India’s biggest private-sector banks and global card networks to launch Apple Pay in the country by the middle of 2026. The development would mark Apple’s long-awaited entry into one of the fastest-growing digital payments markets on earth - a market it has so far been absent from despite Apple Pay having launched over a decade ago.

Bloomberg reports that the iPhone maker is holding talks with ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and Axis Bank, and is separately negotiating with payment networks Visa and Mastercard over fee structures and transaction partnerships. The timeline is still fluid, and Apple has declined to comment publicly. Representatives of the banks and payment networks did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The three banks named in discussions - HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Axis Bank - are among India’s largest private-sector lenders and collectively account for a dominant share of the country’s credit and debit card issuance. HDFC Bank, the largest Indian private lender by market capitalisation, is understood to be leading the consortium. ICICI and Axis bring extensive ATM and merchant acceptance networks that would underpin Apple Pay’s roll-out.

On the network side, both Visa and Mastercard are in separate talks with Apple regarding the commercial terms under which card-based Apple Pay transactions would be processed in India.

Apple Pay to integrate UPI

A key question for any new payments entrant in India is how it handles UPI - the state-backed Unified Payments Interface that has come to dominate the country’s digital payments landscape. UPI recorded 16.7 billion transactions in January 2026 alone, according to the National Payments Corporation of India, and is used by apps including Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm.

Apple Pay in India is expected to support both UPI and card-based payments - a dual approach that would allow iPhone users to link their bank accounts for UPI transfers as well as pay via their existing Visa or Mastercard credentials. This positions Apple Pay as a full-service wallet rather than a card-only product, which would be essential for gaining traction in a market where UPI has made card payments feel almost secondary for everyday transactions.

Biometrics and tap-to-pay: Why the timing is right

The timing of Apple’s push is not accidental. India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, introduced new rules late last year permitting biometric authentication - including fingerprint and facial recognition - for digital payments. Previously, authentication in India had largely relied on one-time passwords sent via SMS, a mechanism that made tap-to-pay transactions cumbersome.

Apple Pay is built around Face ID and Touch ID for authorising payments - both in-store via tap-to-pay and online through apps and websites. The RBI’s regulatory shift effectively opens the door for Apple’s authentication model to work seamlessly within India’s payments rules for the first time.

A strategic bet on services revenue and hardware

For Apple, the India push is about more than payments. The company’s smartphone market share in India remains modest - roughly 3 percent in a market dominated by lower-priced Android devices. But Apple has been steadily building its India presence, expanding its manufacturing footprint, opening flagship retail stores, and growing its middle-class customer base in a country of 1.4 billion people.

Apple Pay will be entering a fiercely competitive market. Google Pay holds roughly 40 percent of UPI transaction volume in India, while PhonePe commands the largest share of the overall UPI ecosystem. Paytm, despite a regulatory setback in early 2024, continues to operate as a significant player.

Published on: Friday, February 27, 2026, 09:51 AM IST