Apple Pay prepares India launch with Axis Bank amid card-fee talks

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Apple Pay India launch

Highlights

Apple Pay will launch in India with Axis Bank as its initial partner, but lacks RuPay network support and excludes HDFC, ICICI, and SBI Card at launch.
Apple is negotiating a 20 basis point fee per transaction, which could complicate partnerships given India's payment margin of 40 to 50 basis points.
Apple Pay targets India's affluent iPhone users who prefer premium credit cards, tapping a smaller market due to UPI's dominance in digital transactions.

Launch scope and commercial terms

As first reported by TechCrunch, Apple Pay is launching in India with Axis Bank as its first banking partner after years of staying out of the market. People familiar with the matter say eligible Axis Bank customers will be able to add their credit cards to Apple Wallet and use the service for online purchases and contactless payments at supported terminals.

The service does not initially support India's RuPay network, and its early reach is narrower than in many other markets because Apple Pay depends on card issuers and payments infrastructure providers integrating with the platform. HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and SBI Card are not expected to support the service at launch as discussions over commercial terms continue.

Apple is seeking a fee of about 20 basis points on transactions, the people say. That would take a notable share of the roughly 40 to 50 basis points of margin available in the payments layer, potentially complicating talks with some of India's biggest banks.

Positioning in India's payments market

India's payments ecosystem differs sharply from the U.S. and other card-led economies because digital transactions are driven mainly by the state-backed Unified Payments Interface. UPI has made direct account-to-account payments and QR-code transactions routine, leaving card-based services like Apple Pay to target a smaller segment.

Even so, Apple Pay could find demand among India's growing iPhone user base, which is generally more affluent and more likely to use premium credit cards. That customer profile could give banks a reason to support the service over time, while also giving Apple another way to generate revenue from its expanding installed base in the country.

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