Apple Pay May Launch in India in October Without UPI Support: Report
Apple Pay may launch in India in October with card payments first, while UPI support could arrive later, report says.
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Apple may launch Apple Pay in India as early as October, but the service may not initially support the country’s widely used Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
Apple has not officially announced the reported launch timing.
The first phase may enable iPhone and Apple Watch users to make contactless payments at compatible point-of-sale terminals using tokenised Visa and Mastercard cards. The report said Apple is in talks with Indian lenders like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank for card provisioning for the service.
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UPI Support May Come Later:
The absence of UPI at launch could be an issue for Apple Pay’s adoption in India, where UPI has become the backbone of everyday digital payments. Apple continues to be in discussion with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to enable UPI on Apple Pay, with authentication being one of the few technical issues left to be sorted out, according to reports.
Usually, Apple Pay transactions are authorised by device level authentication, such as Face ID or Touch ID. It may require changes in authentication and payment approval processes to integrate it with India’s existing UPI system.
Apple also confronts a different payments landscape in India. UPI transactions are based on a different economic model than card payments and that could complicate the rollout as the company adapts Apple Pay to local payment networks, banking relationships and regulatory requirements.
However, a card-first approach could still allow Apple to build out the service among its existing customer base while talks around UPI continue.
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While Apple’s share of the overall smartphone market in India is relatively small, it has a strong presence in the premium segment. The company reportedly sold some 14 million iPhones in India in 2025, which would give it a sizeable installed base of potential Apple Pay users.
A launch in October would also fall in line with Apple’s annual iPhone launch schedule, giving the company an opportunity to promote Apple Pay alongside new devices.
India’s highly sophisticated digital payments ecosystem is Apple’s challenge and opportunity. Indian consumers already use UPI extensively for interoperable bank-to-bank transactions, unlike markets where contactless card payments are dominant.
