Apple is reportedly looking to venture into the Asia Pacific region with its payment services. Based on new information, it appears that the Cupertino giant is engaging with Indian authorities and officials to bring Apple Pay to India after opening its first stores in the country. Continue reading below to know more about this.
Apple Pay In India Soon?
According to a TechCrunch report, Apple has initiated conversations with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to bring Apple Pay to India. It is suggested that Tim Cook reportedly met with HDFC Bank CEO and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials to discuss the matter. This was when Cook inaugurated the opening of the Country’s first-ever Apple Stores in Delhi and Mumbai.
The idea is to launch a service that works in sync with the popular UPI interface. This means that when launched, you will be able to use your iPhone to make payments via unified UPI IDs and QR Codes. A trusted source also informed TechCrunch about the possibility of Face ID authentication and approval for payments.
It is clear that with Apple Pay, the Cupertino tech giant is looking to go head-to-head (and preferably end) the dominance of PhonePe, GPay, and Paytm in the online payment space. If you can recall, there is already Samsung who is offering payment services in India via Samsung Pay and a credit card too. This will also expand Apple’s presence in India. Moreover, this is an indication of Apple’s growing fondness for India, which can also lead to more Made in India iPhones soon.
This also means that the launch of the Apple Pay credit card is also on the horizon. It is expected to be an HDFC-branded credit card with exclusive perks and features. Apple Card in the US offers benefits like daily cashback, no fees, and privacy features. We can expect similar perks in India too. Although, it is unclear whether or not Apple PayLater will arrive in India.
An Apple Card in India can also ease out the process of renewing subscriptions on Apple products, which currently is a hassle as there’s no support for cards but just UPI after RBI’s recent guidelines for payment aggregators (PA) and payment gateways (PG).
As of now, we are not privy to much information. However, with time we are sure to know more about this. Hence, treat this as a developing story and keep visiting Beebom.com for the latest updates on Apple Pay in India. In the meanwhile, comment down your thoughts on Apple Pay’s possible arrival in India below.
