Apple Pay set to launch in India with Axis Bank today, sources say
Apple Pay set to launch in India with Axis Bank today, sources say
消息称 Apple Pay 今日在印度上线，首批合作伙伴为 Axis Bank
Apple is set to launch Apple Pay in India later Tuesday with Axis Bank as its initial banking partner, TechCrunch has learned, bringing its payments service to the world’s most populous country after years on the sidelines of a market dominated by UPI. 据 TechCrunch 获悉，苹果公司计划于周二晚些时候在印度推出 Apple Pay，Axis Bank 将作为其首家银行合作伙伴。在 UPI（统一支付接口）主导印度市场多年后，苹果终于将其支付服务带到了这个全球人口最多的国家。
The initial rollout will be limited, according to people familiar with the matter. Apple Pay will initially support eligible Axis Bank cards on Visa and Mastercard, but not India’s homegrown RuPay network. Acceptance will also be restricted to merchants and payment terminals that have been enabled for the service. 据知情人士透露，此次初期推广范围将较为有限。Apple Pay 最初将支持符合条件的 Visa 和 Mastercard 渠道的 Axis Bank 卡片，但暂不支持印度本土的 RuPay 网络。此外，其受理范围也将仅限于已开通该服务的商户和支付终端。
Unlike India’s ubiquitous Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system, which lets consumers make instant bank-to-bank payments without relying on cards, Apple Pay is card-based and requires individual issuers and payment infrastructure providers to integrate with the service. This makes a broad rollout more complex. 与印度无处不在的统一支付接口（UPI）系统不同——后者允许消费者无需依赖银行卡即可进行即时银行间转账——Apple Pay 基于银行卡模式，需要各发卡机构和支付基础设施提供商与该服务进行对接。这使得其大规模推广变得更加复杂。
Apple’s commercial terms have also emerged as a sticking point with some of India’s largest banks, the people said. Apple is seeking a fee of about 20 basis points on transactions, according to the people, a significant bite out of the roughly 40 to 50 basis points of margin in the payments layer. The fee structure is broadly consistent with Apple Pay’s commercial model in other markets, the people said. 知情人士称，苹果的商业条款已成为其与印度几家大型银行谈判的症结所在。据透露，苹果寻求从每笔交易中收取约 20 个基点的费用，这在支付环节约 40 到 50 个基点的利润空间中占据了相当大的比例。消息人士表示，这一收费结构与 Apple Pay 在其他市场的商业模式基本一致。
HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and SBI Card are not expected to support Apple Pay at launch as negotiations over commercial terms continue, one of the people told TechCrunch. Apple, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and SBI Card did not respond to requests for comment. Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Apple was preparing to launch Apple Pay in India in October, starting with Axis Bank credit cards. 其中一位知情人士告诉 TechCrunch，由于商业条款谈判仍在进行中，预计 HDFC Bank、ICICI Bank 和 SBI Card 在上线初期不会支持 Apple Pay。苹果、Axis Bank、HDFC Bank、ICICI Bank 和 SBI Card 均未回应置评请求。本月初，路透社曾报道称，苹果正准备于 10 月在印度推出 Apple Pay，并首先支持 Axis Bank 的信用卡。
Apple Pay is entering a payments market that looks markedly different from the U.S. and other card-heavy economies. India’s digital payments boom has been driven largely by UPI, the state-backed system that lets consumers move money directly between bank accounts. UPI handles the bulk of digital payments in India, where scanning a QR code to pay directly from a bank account has become commonplace. Apple Pay 进入的支付市场与美国及其他以银行卡为主导的经济体截然不同。印度的数字支付热潮主要由 UPI 推动，这是一个由政府支持的系统，允许消费者在银行账户之间直接转账。UPI 处理了印度大部分的数字支付业务，通过扫描二维码直接从银行账户付款已成为当地的常态。
Apple Pay, by contrast, will initially address a much smaller card payments market. Nevertheless, Apple Pay could appeal to India’s growing base of iPhone users, who tend to be more affluent and are more likely to use premium credit cards. Those customers could make the service hard for banks to ignore, despite UPI’s dominance. 相比之下，Apple Pay 初期将面对的是规模小得多的银行卡支付市场。尽管如此，Apple Pay 仍可能吸引印度不断增长的 iPhone 用户群体，他们往往更富裕，也更有可能使用高端信用卡。尽管 UPI 占据主导地位，但这些客户群体可能会让银行难以忽视该服务。
Even if Apple Pay remains a niche service, the economics could still make India meaningful for Apple. The transaction fee the iPhone maker would charge would give it another way to monetize its growing base of iPhone users in the country, the people said. 知情人士表示，即使 Apple Pay 在短期内仍属于小众服务，其经济效益仍可能使印度市场对苹果具有重要意义。苹果公司收取的交易费用将为其在该国不断增长的 iPhone 用户群提供另一种变现途径。
At launch, eligible Axis Bank customers will be allowed to add their credit cards to Apple’s Wallet app and use Apple Pay for online purchases as well as contactless payments at supported terminals, the people said. An Apple Pay transaction could work at a terminal operated by an independent payments provider that has enabled the service but fail at another terminal whose acquiring bank has not, one of the people said. That could make acceptance uneven during the initial rollout, even for customers with supported cards. 知情人士称，上线后，符合条件的 Axis Bank 客户可以将信用卡添加到苹果的“钱包”应用中，并使用 Apple Pay 进行在线购物以及在支持的终端进行非接触式支付。其中一位人士指出，Apple Pay 交易可能在已开通该服务的独立支付提供商终端上成功，但在收单行尚未开通该服务的终端上则会失败。这可能导致在初期推广阶段，即使是持有受支持卡片的客户，其支付受理体验也会参差不齐。
The launch adds another piece to Apple’s growing business in India, where it has been expanding iPhone sales, local manufacturing, and its retail footprint. Apple accounted for 28% of India’s smartphone market by value in 2025, up from 23% a year earlier, per an earlier report by Counterpoint Research. India already accounts for about a quarter of global iPhone production, and that share could rise to 30% to 35% over the next five years, Indian English daily Business Standard reported last month, citing an Indian government official. 此次上线是苹果在印度不断增长的业务版图中的又一重要布局，此前苹果一直在扩大其在印度的 iPhone 销售、本地制造以及零售业务。根据 Counterpoint Research 此前的一份报告，2025 年苹果在印度智能手机市场的价值份额已从一年前的 23% 上升至 28%。据印度英文日报《商业标准报》上月援引印度政府官员的话报道，印度目前已占全球 iPhone 产量的约四分之一，未来五年这一份额有望升至 30% 至 35%。