Apple Pay is live in India, on one bank’s credit cards
Apple Pay went live in India on 30 September 2026, and for now it takes one kind of card: a Visa or Mastercard credit card issued by Axis Bank. If you have one and an iPhone XR or later, you can tap your phone on a shop’s card machine, or pay in apps and on websites with Face ID or Touch ID instead of an OTP. If you bank elsewhere, nothing has changed for you yet. HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI Card haven’t signed up, RuPay cards aren’t supported, and UPI isn’t part of Apple Pay at all, even though it carries most of India’s digital payments by number.
Apple’s announcement lists merchants from Blinkit and Zomato to Croma and Reliance brands, and payment gateways including Razorpay, PayU and Pine Labs. What it asks of you is narrower: an Axis Bank credit card on Visa or Mastercard, and an iPhone XR or later.
Apple Pay in India works with Axis Bank Visa and Mastercard credit cards, on an iPhone XR or later running iOS 18, an Apple Watch Series 6 or later, or an iPad. Apple and Axis name only credit cards. It pays at contactless card machines, in apps and on websites, and you confirm each payment with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. UPI and RuPay are not included. TechCrunch reports that the other large card issuers are still negotiating terms with Apple. Apple charges you nothing to use it.
What launched on 30 September
| Bank | Axis Bank only |
|---|---|
| Cards | Visa and Mastercard credit cards. Apple and Axis name no debit cards |
| Not supported | RuPay cards, UPI |
| Devices | iPhone XR or later on iOS 18 or later; Apple Watch Series 6 or later on watchOS 11, paired with an iPhone XR or later; iPad. Mac “coming soon” |
| Where it pays | Contactless card machines in shops, in apps, on websites |
| Merchants Apple names | Apple Store, Blinkit, Chaayos, Comet, Croma, Interflora, Ixigo, Le15 Patisserie, Reliance brands, Tata 1mg, Zomato |
| Payment gateways Apple names | BillDesk, Cashfree, Juspay, Mswipe, Paytm, PayU, Pine Labs, Razorpay |
| Cost to you | None |
Apple’s announcement says “thousands” of merchants in one paragraph and “millions” in another. In practice, a shop can take Apple Pay if its card machine accepts contactless payments. Online, it works at checkouts that offer it, which mostly means sites built on the payment gateways in the table.
Can you use it today?
You need two things:
- An Axis Bank credit card on Visa or Mastercard.
- An iPhone XR or later on iOS 18 or later, or an Apple Watch Series 6 or later paired with one.
You add the card through the latest Axis Bank app or through the Wallet app already on your iPhone. Axis says your card’s rewards continue when you pay through Apple Pay.
If your card is from HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank or SBI Card, the answer is not yet. TechCrunch reported on 29 September that the three “are not supporting Apple Pay at launch as negotiations over commercial terms continue”. Its sources say Apple wants a fee of about 20 basis points, or 0.2%, on each transaction. The sources are unnamed, and none of the banks has confirmed the figure.
How to add your card and pay
- Add the card. Open the latest Axis Bank app and add your credit card to Apple Wallet from there. Or open Wallet, tap the plus sign and follow the steps.
- Pay in a shop. Hold your iPhone near the contactless card machine and confirm with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode.
- Pay in an app or on a website. Choose Apple Pay at checkout where it’s offered and confirm the same way. You won’t wait for an OTP.
Expect one thing at a shop counter. RBI’s 2025 authentication directions leave small-value contactless card payments exempt from extra authentication, up to the limit RBI set in December 2020: ₹5,000 per transaction. Google’s help page for its own tap-to-pay feature says that limit applies to all contactless payments in India. Neither Apple nor RBI has said how it applies to a tap with Apple Pay above ₹5,000. If a card machine asks for your card PIN on a larger bill, that limit is the likely reason.
Why there’s no OTP online
Apple says you can pay “without the need to type in PINs or use OTPs at checkout”. The relevant rule is RBI’s Authentication Mechanisms for Digital Payment Transactions Directions, 2025 (RBI/2025-26/79), issued on 25 September 2025 and in force since 1 April 2026. Unless a payment is exempt, it needs two factors of authentication, and at least one has to be “dynamically created or proven”, meaning unique to that transaction. The directions list “any other form of biometrics (device native or Aadhaar based)” as an acceptable factor.
Face ID and Touch ID are device-native biometrics. Apple also says its payments carry a security code specific to each transaction instead of your card number. Together those fit the categories the directions describe, which is consistent with Apple’s promise of a checkout without an OTP. The directions don’t name Apple Pay, though, and Axis hasn’t published which factors it counts.
What’s missing, and why
UPI
In August 2026, UPI handled 2,451 crore transactions worth ₹29.82 lakh crore, according to RBI’s payment system indicators. Credit cards from every issuer handled 63.2 crore transactions worth ₹2.02 lakh crore that month. UPI’s count includes transfers between people as well as payments to shops, and it came to about 39 transactions for every credit card payment.
Adding UPI would take more than a software update. As MediaNama has set out, Apple would need a third-party app provider licence from NPCI, the status PhonePe and Google Pay hold. It would have to work through a sponsor bank and store UPI transaction data only in India. PhonePe and Google Pay together processed about 78% of UPI transactions in August 2026, according to NPCI data reported by MediaNama. Apple has said nothing about applying.
The two rails also cost a shop different amounts. From 15 October 2026, a shop pays 0.4% on a UPI payment above ₹2,000, capped at ₹300, and nothing on payments up to ₹2,000. Small merchants taking up to ₹1 lakh a month on a P2PM QR code pay nothing, and a few essential categories such as fuel and telecom pay a flat ₹5, as we covered in what changes for UPI payments in 2026. MediaNama puts the fee a shop pays on a credit card payment at 1 to 3%. So for a shop, a card payment through Apple Pay will usually cost more to accept than UPI.
RuPay
Apple Pay supports Visa and Mastercard, not RuPay, India’s own card network. Apple, Axis and NPCI haven’t said whether that will change.
Other banks
Apple Pay reaches only cards that Axis has issued. Across all banks there were 12.4 crore credit cards in circulation in August 2026, according to RBI. Until HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI Card agree terms with Apple, you can’t add their cards.
Apple Pay, UPI and tap-to-pay on Android
Paying with your phone at a card machine isn’t new in India. Samsung launched Samsung Pay here on 22 March 2017, with Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI Card and Standard Chartered among its partners. Google Pay added tap-to-pay with tokenised cards in September 2020, at first only for Axis Bank and SBI cards. Google’s help page now lists cards from 14 banks. Apple Pay brings the same kind of payment to the iPhone.
| Apple Pay | Google Pay tap-to-pay | UPI | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phone | iPhone XR or later, iOS 18 | Android phone with NFC | Any phone with a UPI app |
| What pays | Axis Bank Visa or Mastercard credit card | Cards from 14 banks, per Google’s help page | Your bank account |
| At the counter | Contactless card machine | Contactless card machine | QR code |
| A shop payment above ₹5,000 | Not confirmed. The machine may ask for your card PIN | Google says the ₹5,000 contactless limit applies | UPI PIN required |
| Cost to you | None | None | None |
Google Pay’s tap-to-pay has been available in India for six years. In August 2026, UPI still carried about 39 transactions for every credit card payment. Apple Pay is unlikely to change how most people in India pay for everyday things. Where it is more likely to matter is at online checkouts, and in how much of your card a merchant gets to see.
Is it safer than handing over your card?
It gives the merchant less. Apple says your card number isn’t stored on the iPhone or on Apple’s servers, and isn’t shared with the merchant. Instead, the phone keeps a separate Device Account Number in the Secure Element, a certified chip, and each payment carries a security code that works only for that transaction. A shop’s card machine or a website’s checkout receives the token and that code, never the number printed on your card.
This is device tokenisation. RBI has permitted it on phones and tablets since a circular of 8 January 2019. It is a different thing from the card-on-file tokens that have protected cards saved on shopping sites since 1 October 2022, when RBI barred merchants from storing card data. With Apple Pay, the token stays on your device and every payment needs your face, fingerprint or passcode.
On data, Apple says it doesn’t keep transaction information that can be tied back to you. Its security page adds that it keeps anonymous information, including the approximate amount, the app and the approximate date and time. Your bank sees every payment in full, just as it does when you use the plastic card.
If your iPhone is lost or stolen, Apple says that marking it as lost in Find My locks it with your passcode and suspends the cards you use with Apple Pay. You can also remove the cards remotely from another Apple device or from a browser signed in to your Apple Account, or call Axis to do it for you.
How much of your month Apple Wallet can show
Worked example. Take a month in which you spend ₹62,000. Assume ₹22,000 goes on rent by bank transfer, and ₹21,000 goes in 85 UPI payments: groceries, autos, chai, a pharmacy run. The remaining ₹19,000 goes on your Axis credit card. Of that, ₹11,000 goes through Apple Pay (Zomato, Blinkit, one purchase tapped at Croma) and ₹8,000 goes on the physical card or a card saved on a website.
At best, Wallet shows the whole ₹19,000 on that card, which is 31% of the month. If it lists only Apple Pay payments, it shows ₹11,000, or 18%. If on-device history isn’t available for your card, it shows none of it. In every case it misses ₹43,000, nearly 70% of what you spent, which moved by UPI and bank transfer.
Apple says that tapping a card in Wallet shows a list of its latest transactions. It also says on-device transaction history may not be available in every country, and it points you to your card issuer for the full record. Axis hasn’t said what Wallet shows for its cards, which is why the example gives all three cases.
Apple Pay makes paying by card easier. It doesn’t bring the rest of your month into one place. The options for doing that on an iPhone, and where each one falls short, are in how to track expenses on an iPhone in India. Our page on expense tracking on an iPhone explains why iOS gives apps no way to read your bank’s SMS alerts in the first place.
Should you bother?
- If you have an Axis credit card and an iPhone, adding the card takes a couple of minutes. You get online checkouts without an OTP where Apple Pay is offered, the merchant never sees your card number, and your rewards continue.
- If your card is from another bank, there’s nothing to do yet. Watch for your bank’s announcement.
- If you pay almost everything by UPI, Apple Pay doesn’t touch that, and your UPI app works exactly as before.
- If you’re trying to use your credit card less, bear in mind that Apple Pay takes fewer steps than getting the card out. The minimum-due arithmetic on a credit card statement works the same whether you tap or swipe.
What to watch next
- HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI Card. According to TechCrunch’s sources, they are still negotiating commercial terms, including a reported 0.2% fee. If any one of them signs, far more cardholders can use Apple Pay.
- RuPay. Support would bring in cards on India’s own network.
- UPI. Apple would need an NPCI licence, and it hasn’t said it wants one.
- Mac. Apple says support is “coming soon”.
Questions worth asking
Which banks support Apple Pay in India?
Only Axis Bank, as of 2 October 2026. Apple Pay launched in India on 30 September with Axis Bank Visa and Mastercard credit cards. TechCrunch reported that HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI Card are not supporting it at launch while commercial terms are negotiated, with Apple reportedly seeking about 0.2% of each transaction. Apple and Axis name only credit cards, and RuPay cards are not supported.
Can I use UPI with Apple Pay?
No. Apple Pay in India runs on the Visa and Mastercard networks, and UPI isn’t part of it. To offer UPI, Apple would need a third-party app provider licence from NPCI, as PhonePe and Google Pay have. It would also have to work through a sponsor bank and keep UPI transaction data in India. Apple has said nothing about doing that, so you keep paying by UPI from your existing app.
Do I need an OTP or a PIN with Apple Pay in India?
Not an OTP, according to Apple. In apps and on websites you confirm with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode, and RBI’s 2025 authentication directions accept device-native biometrics as a factor. A PIN is a different matter. RBI’s ₹5,000 limit for contactless card payments without extra authentication is still in place, and nobody has said how it applies to Apple Pay, so a card machine may ask for your card PIN on a larger bill.
Is Apple Pay safe to use in India?
It is built to give a merchant less than your physical card does. Apple says your card number isn’t stored on the iPhone or on Apple’s servers and isn’t shared with the merchant. The phone holds a separate Device Account Number in a secure chip and sends a security code specific to each payment. RBI has permitted this kind of device tokenisation on phones since January 2019. Your bank still sees every payment as normal.
Does Apple charge a fee for Apple Pay in India?
Not to you. Apple’s India page says it does not charge any fees when you pay with Apple Pay, and Axis says your card’s rewards continue. The fee question is between Apple and the banks. TechCrunch’s sources say Apple wants about 0.2% of each transaction, and commercial terms are what the other large card issuers are still negotiating.
Can I use Apple Pay abroad with my Axis card?
Probably, at contactless card machines, but Axis hasn’t confirmed it. Apple says Apple Pay works in countries and regions that support contactless payments, and tells you to check with your bank about overseas fees. Before a trip, make sure international use is switched on for your card in the Axis app, and check the foreign currency markup your card charges.
Related
Your month is bigger than one card
Apple Pay adds one more place where your spending happens. TLDR Money will read the transaction alerts your banks already email you, read-only from your Gmail and never from your SMS inbox, so card payments, UPI and transfers end up in one list. The iPhone app is in development.
Join the waitlistWe’ll email you when it’s ready. No spam, ever.
Sources
- Apple Pay launches in India: Axis Bank cards, devices, merchants, payment gateways, the Device Account Number, no PINs or OTPs — Apple Newsroom India, 30 Sep 2026
- No fees to pay with Apple Pay; use abroad — Apple, Apple Pay (India)
- The transaction-specific security code, and what Apple retains — Apple Support, Apple Pay security and privacy overview, 28 Apr 2026
- Wallet transaction history and its country limits — Apple Support, See your Apple Pay transaction history
- HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI Card not supporting Apple Pay at launch; the reported 20 basis point fee; no RuPay — TechCrunch, 29 Sep 2026
- Axis Bank: Visa and Mastercard credit cards, adding a card through the Axis app or Wallet, rewards continue — ANI via The Tribune, 30 Sep 2026
- RBI, Authentication Mechanisms for Digital Payment Transactions Directions, 2025 (RBI/2025-26/79), 25 Sep 2025; in force 1 Apr 2026 — Reserve Bank of India
- RBI, contactless card transaction limit raised to ₹5,000 (RBI/2020-21/71), 4 Dec 2020 — Reserve Bank of India
- RBI, Tokenisation – Card transactions (RBI/2018-19/103), 8 Jan 2019 — Reserve Bank of India
- RBI, merchants barred from storing card-on-file data from 1 Oct 2022, 28 Jul 2022 — Reserve Bank of India
- RBI, Payment System Indicators, August 2026: UPI and credit card volumes and values, cards in circulation — Reserve Bank of India
- What Apple would need to offer UPI; PhonePe and Google Pay share of UPI (NPCI data); the fee on card payments — MediaNama, Sep 2026
- Ministry of Finance: the 0.4% UPI framework from 15 Oct 2026, the ₹300 cap and the exemptions — PIB, 15 Sep 2026
- Google Pay India: supported cards and the ₹5,000 contactless limit — Google Pay Help
- Google Pay tap-to-pay for Axis Bank and SBI cards, September 2020 — XDA Developers, 21 Sep 2020, and Business Standard, 21 Sep 2020
- If your iPhone is lost: Lost Mode suspends Apple Pay; removing cards remotely — Apple Support, How to find your lost iPhone or iPad, and Apple Support, Change or remove the payment cards that you use with Apple Pay
- Samsung Pay launches in India, with its card network and issuer partners, 22 Mar 2017 — Samsung
Status as of 2 October 2026. The banks and cards that work with Apple Pay will change, so check Apple’s and your bank’s pages before relying on this. This is an explanation, not advice about your money. TLDR Money is not a registered investment adviser and earns no commission on any product mentioned. The worked example is illustrative; your own numbers will differ.