Our Bureau
New Delhi
Apple has officially launched its Apple Pay service in India, entering the country’s rapidly expanding digital payments market and putting its payment platform alongside established players such as Google Pay and Paytm.
The service is initially available to customers with eligible Axis Bank-issued Visa and Mastercard credit cards. Users can add their cards to Apple Wallet on iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches and make payments at thousands of participating stores, apps and websites. Mac support is expected to be introduced soon.
Apple Pay allows users to authenticate transactions through Face ID, Touch ID or their device passcode, eliminating the need to enter a PIN or one-time password at checkout. The company said card numbers are not stored on Apple’s servers or shared with merchants. Instead, Apple Pay uses a device-specific account number stored in the device’s Secure Element.
The service will be accepted across a wide network of merchants, including Blinkit, Croma, Ixigo, Reliance brands, Tata 1mg and Zomato. Payment companies including Paytm, Razorpay, Pine Labs, PayU, Cashfree and JusPay have also integrated with Apple Pay to support merchant acceptance.
Apple’s entry comes as India’s digital payments ecosystem is largely driven by the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which enables instant bank-to-bank payments. Google Pay and Paytm are among the major services already operating in the market. Apple Pay’s initial rollout, however, focuses on card-based payments rather than UPI.