Apple Pay Launches in India With Axis Bank Partnership

Apple launches Apple Pay in India with Axis Bank, initially supporting eligible Visa and Mastercard credit cards, enabling payments across stores, apps and websites through iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.

Apple has launched its Apple Pay payment service in India in partnership with Axis Bank, marking the service’s entry into one of the world’s largest digital payments markets. The rollout begins with eligible Axis Bank credit cards on the Visa and Mastercard networks.

The service is available on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, with Mac support expected to follow. Customers with eligible Axis Bank-issued Visa and Mastercard credit cards can add their cards to Apple Wallet through the Axis Bank mobile application or directly through Apple Wallet.

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Apple Pay enables users to make payments at participating stores, within apps and online without entering card details, PINs or one-time passwords at checkout. Transactions can be authenticated using Face ID, Touch ID or a device passcode, depending on the Apple device being used.

At launch, RuPay cards are not supported. Axis Bank becomes the first Indian bank to offer Apple Pay, while Apple has also held discussions with HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank about bringing additional banking partners onto the platform. No commercial agreement with those banks has been finalised so far, according to Reuters.

Apple says Apple Pay uses a security architecture in which the actual card number is not stored on the device or Apple’s servers and is not shared with merchants. Instead, a unique Device Account Number is assigned to the card and stored securely in the device’s Secure Element.

The service will be accepted by millions of merchants across India, including Apple Store locations and businesses such as Blinkit, Croma, Zomato and Tata 1mg. Apple has also worked with payment service providers including Cashfree, JusPay, Paytm, PayU, Pine Labs, Razorpay and Worldline to connect merchant networks to Apple Pay.

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Apple’s entry comes into a market where UPI accounts for 84% of digital payment volumes, according to a 2025 IMF report cited by Reuters. Apple Pay’s initial India offering is card-based rather than a replacement for UPI’s bank-transfer system.

The launch expands Apple’s financial services presence in India while giving eligible cardholders another option for contactless and online payments.