According to a report by Gadgets Now, Apple is expected to initially enable contactless payments through tokenised Visa and Mastercard credit and debit cards. This would allow iPhone and Apple Watch users to tap and pay at NFC-enabled point-of-sale terminals.
Apple has held advanced discussions with HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank to provision cards for the service, according to people familiar with the rollout cited by the report.
UPI integration could come at a later stage, with discussions with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) reportedly still underway. The reported October launch would mark Apple’s long-awaited entry into India’s digital payments market, more than a decade after Apple Pay was first launched globally.
Why Apple may start with cards
The absence of UPI at launch would be significant because India’s payments market is very different from most markets where Apple Pay operates.
Apple has been in talks with Indian banks and payment networks for several months. Bloomberg reported in February that the company was discussing an India launch with ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, as well as Visa and Mastercard. At the time, Apple Pay was expected to support both UPI and card payments, although the timeline remained fluid.
The latest report suggests Apple could instead take a phased approach, beginning with card payments before adding UPI.
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The authentication hurdle
One challenge is how Apple Pay’s authentication system would work within India’s UPI framework.
Apple Pay relies on Face ID or Touch ID to authorise payments, keeping authentication tightly integrated with the user’s device. UPI, meanwhile, operates within India’s banking and identity infrastructure.
According to sources cited by Gadgets Now, Apple wants its device-level biometric authentication system to play a central role, while NPCI’s requirements involve UIDAI-backed authentication. The two sides have yet to fully resolve the technical differences.
Apple’s NFC architecture could present another challenge. The iPhone’s NFC functionality is closely tied to Apple Pay, while India’s payments ecosystem has been built around interoperability between different applications and services.
India’s payments economics are another test
There is also a commercial hurdle.Apple globally charges around 0.15-0.20%, or 15-20 basis points, of transaction value for Apple Pay, according to media reports. India’s payments market operates on a very different cost structure, with UPI transactions processed without a merchant discount rate.
This makes India’s premium iPhone user base a logical starting point for Apple.
Why the premium iPhone user matters
Apple shipped roughly 14 million iPhones in India in 2025, capturing about 9% of the country’s smartphone market by volume, according to Counterpoint Research.
While that is a relatively small overall market share, iPhone users are concentrated in the premium segment, making them an attractive customer base for banks and card networks.
An October rollout would also fit Apple’s usual product cycle if the company launches its next-generation iPhones in September.
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What Apple Pay’s India entry means
Apple’s challenge is therefore not simply bringing Apple Pay to another market. It is adapting a global payments system to an ecosystem where UPI dominates, transaction costs are exceptionally low and interoperability is central to the infrastructure.
A card-based launch could give Apple a foothold among India’s premium iPhone users. But the much bigger opportunity lies in UPI.
For now, the reported October launch remains unconfirmed by Apple, and the exact features available at launch could still change.
