After a gap of nearly 5 years, Apple is preparing to bring back credit and debit card payment support for App Store and iCloud transactions in India. The feature is currently being tested with a select group of users and is expected to roll out to all customers in the coming months.
The move comes after Apple reportedly complied with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) card tokenisation guidelines. Although the company has not officially announced the change, users may soon be able to make purchases using credit and debit cards once again.
Apple removed card payment support in India in 2021 after the RBI introduced its tokenisation mandate. Since then, customers have relied on UPI, net banking, or prepaid Apple ID balances to pay for apps, subscriptions and iCloud services.
Under the RBI’s regulations, only card networks are allowed to store tokenised card data, and the information must be stored locally in India. According to the report, Apple has now aligned its payment system with these requirements, allowing the company to restore card payment support.
Users will be able to add their credit or debit cards through the Payment and Shipping section in the Settings menu on their iPhone or iPad. However, the feature remains in the testing phase before a wider rollout.
The report also stated that Apple has been working with banks and card networks to introduce Apple Pay in India. The effort to comply with RBI’s tokenisation and data localisation rules is also expected to support the digital payment service’s future launch.
Globally, Apple stores tokenised payment data on local servers in the United States, Denmark for the European Union, and China. However, the report claims the company does not plan to create a similar data storage infrastructure in India, as it currently has no plans to establish a data centre in the country.
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