Apple Pay to Launch in India by October

[MacRumors]

Apple Pay will launch in India by this October, reports Business Standard, citing people familiar with the matter. Apple Pay will support major credit card networks like Visa and Mastercard, but it won't support transactions via the country's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) at launch.

Apple would need clearance from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for that to happen, plus it would need to partner with a sponsor bank for routing the transactions. Negotiations are said to be ongoing.

Bloomberg reported in February that Apple has been in talks with major Indian banks in a bid to get Apple Pay up and running in the country this year.

Article Link: Apple Pay to Launch in India by October

 

[svish]

Very happy to hear that it is launching in my country soon. I see no reason for debit cards to be not supported and hopefully that too will be available from launch.

 

[omglolbbq]

If there's no UPI support, is there really even a point?

 

[akashagrawal]

If there's no UPI support, is there really even a point?

I know UPI is the de-facto champion of digital payments, but plenty of people use cards, too. I use different cards for different rewards (fuel, cashback from groceries etc.). I'd wager iPhone owners might even be more likely to have a credit card.

 

[ttuurrppiinn]

If there's no UPI support, is there really even a point?

This will allow foreign business travelers to Tier 1 cities to use their preferred payment. (No foreigner that I know wants to deal with Pocket UPI ... which I'm not even sure supports foreign bank accounts.)

Once that becomes popular, local iPhone users will naturally request UPI support.

 

[helloworld011]

If there's no UPI support, is there really even a point?

Yes, not for you maybe but I’ve been waiting for it from a very long time.

 

[darkphoenix24]

If there's no UPI support, is there really even a point?

This will allow foreign business travelers to Tier 1 cities to use their preferred payment. (No foreigner that I know wants to deal with Pocket UPI ... which I'm not even sure supports foreign bank accounts.)

Once that becomes popular, local iPhone users will naturally request UPI support.

UPI is nice and convenient, but it’s a bit more cumbersome to use than Apple Pay. Something I’ve tried to explain to my family back in India but they don’t fully get as they haven’t used Apple Pay, but I’ve used both.

It’s just so seamless with Apple Pay to double click the side button on the iPhone or Apple Watch and tap, rather than using a dedicated UPI app, the camera to scan a QR code, tapping pay, using a pin etc.

Plus, this will help with Apple Pay on the web. I live in the U.S. but every time I need to pay for something in India, I have to either get rerouted to some secure gateway page for my card, use an OTP or log in to Netbanking. All of which are slower than using Apple Pay with FaceID/TouchID.

 

[dontwalkhand]

For those who live in India, if you just scan the QR code directly from the camera app, would it just open a UPI app....similar to how Walmart Pay works in the US? If thats the case, then thats pretty quick to get the payment going right form the lock screen, no app hunting required.

 

[DSG72]

In Belgium, American Express is not yet Apple Pay compatible… Can you believe it!

 

[suku_patel_22]

It would enable tap to pay on phone and watch for the linked credit card. That’s a major plus.

 

[MacBH928]

it only took 12 years 🤣🤣
India is a huge market , can't believe Apple ignored them for so long