Overview
- Multiple Indian reports say Apple is preparing a phased Apple Pay launch for late September or October 2026 but the company has not confirmed the timing.
- The initial service is expected to support contactless payments with credit and debit cards on global networks such as Visa and Mastercard rather than India’s UPI system.
- Apple is negotiating with major Indian card issuers over how much of each transaction it will take, reportedly seeking about 15–20 basis points while issuers propose roughly 10 basis points.
- UPI support is unlikely at launch because Apple would need approval from the National Payments Corporation of India and a sponsoring bank to route UPI transactions.
- Apple’s recent compliance with India’s card tokenisation rules and the restart of card payments for the App Store in July 2026 clear regulatory hurdles but do not replace the commercial and approvals work still required for a full rollout.