Apple has finally officially launched its digital payment service Apple Pay in India. After months of reports, the company launched its contactless payment service in India on Wednesday. Apple Pay has entered the Indian market nearly 12 years after its launch in the US in September 2014. In India, Apple has partnered with Mumbai-based Axis Bank for operations of Apple Pay.
Apple Pay now lets you make contactless payments using your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. The company says that Apple Pay support will soon be available on Mac devices as well. Users will be able to use it for everything from tapping payments at NFC-enabled PoS machines in physical stores to making in-app purchases and paying at online merchants.
However, for now, Apple Pay in India only supports Visa and Mastercard credit cards issued by Axis Bank. Only after adding the card to Apple Wallet will users be able to make payments without a physical card.
Apple Pay’s Tap-to-Pay feature uses NFC, or Near Field Communication technology. Simply put, to make payments at physical stores, the PoS machine must be NFC-enabled. This way, users won’t need to enter their card’s PIN or OTP. Simply tapping the device near the PoS machine will complete the transaction.
In order to protect user safety and privacy, the actual card number will neither be stored on the device nor saved on Apple’s servers. Instead, Apple will create a unique Device Account Number (DAN), which will be encrypted and stored in the device’s secure element.
