Can Apple Pay Help Tap Payments Gain Ground In India?

Apple Pay entered India on September 30 with support for eligible Axis Bank Visa and Mastercard credit cards on the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. The launch brings Apple’s Near Field Communication (NFC)-based contactless payment system to a market where QR-based payments have become deeply embedded in everyday transactions.

The timing is significant. According to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), UPI processed 24.51 billion transactions worth ₹29.82 lakh crore in August 2026, with 752 banks live on the platform. At the same time, contactless card payments have been gaining ground as more cards and point-of-sale (POS) terminals support tap-based transactions.

This means Apple Pay is not introducing Indians to digital payments. Its proposition is narrower: making a tap-based, card-linked payment option more widely available on compatible devices. Whether that format becomes a regular habit will depend on how widely consumers can use it and how reliably merchants can accept it.

Tap Payments Gain Ground

Contactless card usage has been increasing as banks issue more contactless cards and merchants upgrade payment terminals. Even this June, ETtech reported that contactless transactions account for up to one-third of card swipes. The industry estimates cited by the publication also suggested contactless card payments had grown by around 40% annually over the preceding two years.

Regulatory changes have also supported this shift. The Reserve Bank of India’s decision to raise the limit for contactless card transactions without additional authentication to ₹5,000, effective January 2021, made higher-value tap payments possible.

In addition, Divya Arora, Associate at Jotwani Associates believes that the growth has been supported by wider NFC-enabled POS deployment, greater issuance of contactless cards and demand for faster checkout. “NFC is not introducing consumers to digital payments; rather, it is offering an alternative way of completing transactions that are already digital,” she said.

The appeal also lies in the time saved at checkout because, according to Dr. Raj P Narayanam, Founder & Executive Chairman, Zagg.Money - UPI by Zaggle, speed remains an important driver of contactless adoption, particularly at fuel stations, quick-service restaurants and supermarkets.

NFC Acceptance Is Uneven

For tap payments to work at scale, having an NFC-capable smartphone or card is only one part of the equation. The merchant’s terminal must also be compatible, correctly configured and connected to the relevant payment infrastructure.

While adoption has improved across several organised retail, supermarkets, restaurants, fuel stations, airports and malls, Alay Razvi, Managing Partner at Accord Juris says that the extent of this infrastructure remains difficult to quantify. 

“There is no comprehensive public number establishing how many terminals nationwide are NFC-enabled, correctly configured for mobile wallets or consistently operational,” he cautioned. 

However, Raj Narayanam estimates that roughly 60–70% of active POS terminals in India are now NFC-enabled, with the proportion significantly higher in metros and Tier 1 cities. He said gaps remain in unorganised retail, smaller towns and some transit and government environments.

The expansion is also visible among newer retail formats. Zepto, for instance, has partnered with Apple Pay to enable contactless payments, giving customers another setting in which tap-based transactions can be used. 

The distinction matters because total POS deployment does not necessarily mean that every terminal is ready for seamless mobile-wallet payments. Configuration, connectivity, backend integration and staff familiarity can all affect whether a tap transaction actually works.

UPI Gets Its Own Tap Option

Apple Pay is also arriving as UPI itself moves into NFC-based payments.

NPCI introduced UPI Tap & Pay in September, allowing users to tap an NFC-enabled smartphone at a compatible POS terminal without opening the UPI app. The rollout creates another route through which consumers could become familiar with tapping rather than scanning.

The development, according to Narayanam, is particularly important for building familiarity with NFC. “UPI Tap & Pay is the most significant enabler of NFC habituation in India,” he said.

The two systems, however, operate differently. Apple Pay links eligible bank cards to an Apple device and uses tokenised card credentials, while UPI Tap & Pay remains part of the UPI ecosystem and is linked to UPI payment accounts.

Arora said the two could nevertheless reinforce familiarity with the same physical behaviour: moving from “scan to pay” towards “tap to pay”.

Habit Will Matter More

The presence of another payment option does not automatically mean consumers will change their existing behaviour.

Merchants are also  likely to see adoption earlier because their payment infrastructure is more standardised, while smaller merchants may move more slowly unless customers actively demand the option, says Rashid Ali, Co-founder of Cashlo App. 

“People are not likely to switch just because something is new. They switch when tap is easier, quicker, and shows up every time,” Ali said.

Narayanam expects QR-based UPI to remain important for everyday payments. “QR-based UPI will remain the dominant payment method for the vast majority of Indian consumers,” he said, describing NFC as a complementary payment method rather than a replacement.

That distinction is important. QR payments require little specialised hardware for merchants and work across a very broad range of small-ticket transactions. Tap payments are more closely tied to compatible devices, cards and payment terminals.

Apple Pay Needs More Banks

Apple Pay’s initial Indian footprint is also limited. At launch, Apple listed eligible Axis Bank Visa and Mastercard credit cards, while saying additional banks would be added.

Reuters reported that Axis Bank had around 16.3 million credit cards in circulation as of August, giving the service an initial customer base but still leaving out customers of several large card issuers.

Apple Pay’s payment model combines tokenisation with authentication on the device. Apple says actual card numbers are not stored on the device or its servers; instead, a unique Device Account Number is stored in the Secure Element. Transactions can be authenticated using Face ID, Touch ID or the device passcode.

Ankit Sahni, Partner at Ajay Sahni Associates, said this approach fits with the broader evolution of India’s payment-authentication framework. “RBI’s framework has increasingly been technology-neutral, recognising that authentication can also be achieved through mechanisms such as device binding and biometrics rather than requiring an SMS OTP in every case,” he said.

For Apple Pay, therefore, expanding beyond the initial Axis Bank base will be as important as the underlying NFC technology.

NFC Gets More Options

Apple Pay’s arrival comes at a time when India is developing several ways to make tap-based payments work, from contactless cards to UPI Tap & Pay.

As Razvi puts it, “India is developing a multi-rail payments market rather than moving away from QR payments towards contactless cards.”

The immediate significance of Apple Pay is therefore not whether it changes India’s QR-led payment landscape overnight. It adds another card-based NFC option to that landscape. 

The larger development is that Indian consumers are increasingly being offered multiple ways to pay at the same terminal — and tap-based payments are becoming one of them.