Apple Pay Likely to Launch in India This Year

Apple Pay is set to go live in the Indian market by the end of 2026, according to a new report by Business Standard.

apple pay feature dynamic island
The service still requires regulatory approvals before it can go live in the country, but Apple is reportedly working with banks, regulators, and card networks to bring the payment service to India within the year, claims the publication's sources.

Once launched, Apple Pay is also expected to offer its Tap to Pay on iPhone feature, allowing users in India to make contactless payments at point-of-sale terminals via NFC. But before that can happen, Apple will have to negotiate fees with major card issuers for use of the payment gateway.

UPI dominates digital payments in India, but the report's sources say Apple is unlikely to pursue third-party application provider approval for that system in the near term. Last year, Cashfree Payments and Razorpay integrated Apple Pay to support international payments for Indian merchants.

Apple Pay launched more than 10 years ago, and is already available across 89 markets globally.

The timing comes at a good moment for Apple in India. The company recorded its highest quarterly shipments in the country during Q3 2025, reaching 5 million units and securing fourth place in the market for the first time, according to IDC data.

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Top Rated Comments

-BigMac- Avatar
2 weeks ago
Only 12 years after launch?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dontwalkhand Avatar
2 weeks ago

Bit too late. QR-Codes are king there
Because rather than just double clicking and tapping, it’s way more intuitive to unlock your phone, swipe swipe swipe until you find the right app, open the app, authenticate in the app, and then scan with said app.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
contacos Avatar
2 weeks ago
Bit too late. QR-Codes are king there
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
svish Avatar
2 weeks ago
Very happy to hear about this. Have been waiting for a long time. Hopefully there won't be any further delays.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ForkHandles Avatar
2 weeks ago
But where?

India doesn’t have supermarkets, discount warehouses and the like. Every store is a sole trader.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ForkHandles Avatar
1 week ago

Tell me when you come out of your pigeon hole
I recently spent a month in Rajasthan. One cultural difference was the absolute lack of any large branded type shops that were see in the west. Everywhere we went we saw cottage industries running shops in a heavily cash led markets.

It was actually very impressive that it was the first South East Asian country I have been to that didn’t have 7-11 shops everywhere sapping the profits to be made and repatriating them to a different country.

That’s not to say that there isn’t some incursion by Starbucks and similar but the market economy in that part of India was night and day different to the uk.

In the uk we are a cashless economy. I never see real money these days. I never had much experience of being able to pay electronically even in the bigger stores in India, that’s not to say it doesn’t exist for large purchases but it’s certainly nowhere near as common as the uk
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)