Apple in Talks With Major Banks to Bring Apple Pay to India in 2026 [Report]

Apple is laying the groundwork to bring Apple Pay to India. The company is in discussions with major Indian banks and global card networks, aiming to launch its payment service in the country around the middle of 2026, according to people familiar with the matter. The timeline remains fluid.



According to Bloomberg, Apple has opened talks with ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and Axis Bank, along with Visa and Mastercard. Apple declined to comment. A key component of the rollout is integration with India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the state-backed system that dominates the country's digital payments ecosystem. Apple Pay in India is expected to support UPI alongside traditional card payments, a step that would be essential for broad adoption.


Until recently, Apple could not deploy its standard tap-to-pay experience in India. Digital payments have largely relied on one-time passwords sent via text message, but late last year the country's central bank introduced new rules allowing biometric authentication such as fingerprint or facial recognition. Apple Pay relies on Face ID and Touch ID to approve payments in person, on websites, and within apps.

The market is already competitive. Apple will face established players including Google Pay, Walmart-controlled PhonePe, Amazon, and homegrown rival Paytm. Shares of Paytm parent One97 Communications Ltd. fell as much as 2.6% following the report. Unlike software-only rivals, Apple integrates Apple Pay directly into iOS and watchOS, and a launch in India could help strengthen demand for its hardware in a market where mobile payments are widely used.

Expanding its highly profitable Services business into a country with more than 750 million smartphone users aligns with Apple's broader push in India. The company has been steadily building out its local retail footprint, having just opened Apple Borivali in Mumbai this week. It is also increasing manufacturing in the region as it diversifies production away from China and shields U.S. customers from tariff-related price pressures, recently surpassing $50 billion in cumulative iPhone exports from Indian assembly plants.

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