Targeting Apple Pay: To Launch in India Mid-Year, Reports Suggest Apple Is Negotiating with Multiple Local Banks

Tech Home, February 26 — This afternoon, according to Bloomberg, Apple is in talks with major Indian banks and international payment providers to launch Apple Pay in India.

Sources reveal that Apple has begun negotiations with ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and Axis Bank, aiming to launch Apple Pay around mid-2026. The exact timing has not yet been finalized, but the progress of negotiations indicates that the release is in the preparation stage. Additionally, Apple is collaborating with Mastercard and Visa to advance support for payment networks.

In India, Android devices still dominate the market, but Apple is continuously expanding its local production and retail presence to increase market influence.

Apple Pay is expected to support India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and bank card payments. According to Tech Home, UPI is an instant payment system promoted by the Indian government and has become the core infrastructure for digital payments in India.

Currently, Google Pay, PhonePe, Amazon, and domestic platforms like Paytm are offering digital payment services in India, making the market highly competitive.

Recently, the Reserve Bank of India allowed digital payments to use fingerprint and facial recognition authentication. This aligns closely with Apple Pay’s Face ID and Touch ID-based payment methods, supporting offline, online, and in-app payments.

India has over 750 million smartphone users. Coupled with low data costs and supportive policies, it has become an important market for Apple’s service business growth. The launch of Apple Pay will not only help increase service revenue but may also boost sales of Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices. Currently, Apple holds about a 10% share of the Indian smartphone market.