Overview
- Apple has begun a phased test that lets a limited group of users in India add eligible Visa and Mastercard cards to their Apple Account to top up funds, a change reported on Monday.
- The rollout requires users to add card details to an Apple Account wallet so App Store and iCloud purchases draw from that balance rather than charging cards directly.
- Apple’s technical fix follows the Reserve Bank of India’s tokenisation framework by using tokens issued and stored through authorised Indian card networks rather than mirroring token data on overseas servers.
- Support for RuPay cards is reported to be coming in the coming weeks while a separate Apple Pay launch in India remains stalled by unresolved commercial and regulatory negotiations with banks and card networks.
- The move reverses a 2021–2022 suspension that forced Indian users to rely on UPI, net banking or Apple ID balance for subscriptions and could ease subscription renewals and card‑linked offers for millions of users as the rollout expands.