Apple is reportedly in discussions with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to introduce a localized version of its digital payment app, Apple Pay, in the Indian market. The tech giant aims to tap into India’s growing digital payments sector and is said to be moving forward with its plans after initial discussions with NPCI.
India has become a crucial market for Apple, and the company is eager to provide Indian customers with access to Apple Pay. The service is expected to enable iPhone users to make payments by scanning QR codes and conducting Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions, similar to other popular digital payment apps available in the country. However, both Apple and NPCI have refrained from commenting on the ongoing negotiations.
India has witnessed a surge in digital transactions, particularly with the introduction of UPI, a digital payment system. UPI accounted for a substantial 75 per cent of all digital transactions in India from 2022 to 2023. Experts predict that by 2026 to 2027, daily UPI transactions could reach an astonishing one billion. In May alone, the NPCI reported a record-breaking nine billion transactions.
Apple Pay offers a simple, secure, and private payment method across various Apple devices, including iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac. Users can link their credit, debit, or prepaid cards from participating banks and issuers, including those in ten countries across the Asia-Pacific region.
The potential launch of Apple Pay in India aligns with the country’s increasing adoption of digital payment solutions. It showcases Apple’s commitment to expanding its services in one of the world’s largest and most dynamic markets.
While Apple Pay utilizes near-field communication (NFC) technology for contactless payments, one challenge lies in the lack of NFC support in most Indian smartphones. However, with Apple’s imminent entry into the Indian digital payments market, consumers can anticipate the convenience and security that Apple Pay offers, along with its wide range of features and services.
The arrival of Apple Pay in India will further intensify competition in the digital payments landscape, which already features popular platforms like Google Pay, Paytm, PhonePe, and WhatsApp Pay.
Apple’s potential move into the Indian market was reported by the news agency ANI, which said that Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, had met with Indian authorities to discuss a localized version of Apple Pay. The discussions focused on enabling customers to scan QR codes and initiate UPI transactions directly through Apple Pay, without relying on third-party apps. Apple also expressed its interest in implementing the Face ID feature for UPI transaction authentication.
It is worth noting that while Apple has engaged with Indian regulatory bodies, including the NPCI, negotiations with local banking partners have not yet begun.
Apple Pay Later, the buy-now-pay-later service introduced by Apple in March, has garnered attention in the United States, where select customers can split the cost of Apple Pay purchases into four equal payments over six weeks, without incurring any interest or late fees.
