Apple Finally Brings Back Card Payments For Indian App Store and iCloud Users
· Free Press Journal
After a half-decade hiatus, Apple has quietly restarted credit and debit card payments for App Store and iCloud purchases in India, a move that comes as the company bends to the Reserve Bank of India's strict tokenisation and data localisation mandates. According to sources, the Cupertino-based technology giant is currently running a limited beta with select users and plans to expand access to the broader user base over the coming months. The restoration of card payments marks a significant shift in Apple's payment strategy in the country, signaling both its commitment to India as a market and the compromises it must make to operate here.
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Apple ends five-year card drought
Apple disabled card payments for all App Store and iCloud transactions in India back in 2021, shortly after the RBI introduced its card tokenisation rule. For the past five years, Indian Apple users have been forced to rely on UPI and net banking as their only payment options, a restriction that frustrated many, particularly those wanting to pay in installments or access offers from their card providers. The absence of cards limited customer choice and created friction in the purchasing experience, especially for those accustomed to paying through plastic in other markets.
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The RBI's tokenisation mandate proved to be the sticking point that kept Apple out of the card payments market in India. According to sources quoted by Moneycontrol, the regulator's rule stipulates that only card network, not third-party entities like Apple, can store tokenised payment data. More critically, that data must remain stored locally within India. Apple's global infrastructure, which backs up tokenised payment data on servers in the US, Denmark for the European Union, and China, does not comply with India's localisation requirement. Rather than investing in a local data centre in India, which the company has shown little appetite for, Apple made the pragmatic choice to not mirror tokenised payment data for the Indian market. This decision allows it to comply with the RBI's mandate while avoiding the capital expenditure and operational complexity of running local infrastructure.
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Apple's ability to restore card payments now stems from its groundwork on Apple Pay, which it has been attempting to launch in India for three years. According to the report, Apple Pay's India launch has been repeatedly delayed, held back by intensive negotiations with banks over commission structures and regulatory approvals that have proven elusive. These discussions with card networks and banks to align on tokenisation and compliance procedures have indirectly enabled Apple to clear the technical and regulatory path for direct card payments on the App Store and iCloud. Apple's payment wallet remains in limbo, yet the underlying infrastructure it built for those payments now powers card transactions on its digital storefront.
What is particularly noteworthy is Apple's decision to accept India's data localisation rules without building a local data centre. This represents a significant concession from a company that has historically resisted fragmented data storage and compliance regimes.