Apple Pay could finally be coming to India this year.
According to Business Standard, citing people familiar with the matter, Apple Pay is expected to arrive in India by October. The service is set to support major card networks including Visa and Mastercard at launch. However, one of India’s biggest digital payment systems will notably be missing.
Apple Pay reportedly won’t support the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) when it first launches in the country. That’s a significant omission given how widely UPI is used for everyday digital payments in India.
Apple would need approval from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) before it could offer UPI transactions through Apple Pay. The company would also need to work with a sponsor bank to route those payments.
Those discussions are reportedly still ongoing. Therefore, UPI support could be added at a later date rather than being available when Apple Pay first arrives.
That means the initial version of Apple Pay in India could look somewhat different from the service available in other markets. In those markets, users can generally add compatible debit and credit cards to make contactless payments with an iPhone or Apple Watch.
Apple has been working towards an Indian launch for some time. Bloomberg reported in February that the company had been in discussions with major Indian banks about bringing Apple Pay to the country during 2026.
If the latest report is accurate, those efforts could finally result in a launch within the next few months.
Apple has yet to officially announce an October release date, however, so the company’s plans could still change. There is also no word yet on exactly which banks or cards will be supported when Apple Pay launches.
For now, the biggest question is whether Apple can secure the necessary approvals and partnerships to add UPI support. Given its importance to India’s payments ecosystem, that could ultimately be just as important as Apple Pay’s initial arrival.
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