Apple Pay may launch in India next month: Here is what you need to know
Follow UsApple Pay may arrive in India in October.
Apple may begin its India rollout by supporting Axis Bank credit cards.
The company is also said to be in discussions with HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.
Apple is reportedly preparing to launch Apple Pay in India very soon. The service would enter a market where digital payments are already widely used through platforms such as PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm. The reported move could give iPhone and Apple Watch users another way to make payments.
SurveyBloomberg’s Mark Gurman has reported that Apple is planning to launch Apple Pay in India as early as next month. “The launch of Apple Pay in India is imminent. Apple is gearing up to launch Apple Pay in India — finally — by October,” Gurman wrote.
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Apple is gearing up to launch Apple Pay in India — finally — by October, I’m told. https://t.co/RzK90Hvi3a
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) September 20, 2026
Reuters reported last week that Apple may begin its India rollout by supporting Axis Bank credit cards. The company is also said to be in discussions with HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. However, Apple has not yet reached commercial agreements with the two banks.
Apple Pay works by storing a tokenised version of a user’s card details on their device. This allows users to make contactless payments by tapping their iPhone or Apple Watch on a compatible payment terminal.
Users can authenticate payments using Face ID or Touch ID, depending on the Apple device they are using. This means they would not need to open a separate payment app for a supported card transaction.
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Bloomberg had previously reported that Apple was looking to add support for the Unified Payments Interface, or UPI. UPI lets users send money and pay merchants directly from their bank accounts and is now a major part of India’s digital payments ecosystem.
Apple had reportedly been preparing for an India launch for several months. Bloomberg reported in February that the company was in talks with Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. Apple was then said to be targeting a launch around the middle of 2026.
For now, Apple has not confirmed when Apple Pay will launch in India or which banks will support it at launch. If the October timeline is accurate, more details could emerge in the coming weeks.
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