Apple restarts card payments for app store in India: Report
Apple had stopped accepting credit and debit card payments in India in 2021 after the RBI introduced its card tokenisation mandate.
Apple has restarted credit and debit card payments for App Store and iCloud purchases in India after a gap of five years, according to a Moneycontrol report. The feature is currently being tested with a small group of users and is expected to be rolled out to all users over the next few months.
The move comes after the company complied with the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) card tokenisation rules.
WHY CARD PAYMENTS WERE STOPPED
Apple had stopped accepting credit and debit card payments in India in 2021 after the RBI introduced its card tokenisation mandate.
Since then, users could make payments for App Store purchases and iCloud subscriptions only through UPI and net banking.
According to sources quoted in the report, Apple has now enabled card payments after meeting the RBI's tokenisation requirements.
WHAT CHANGED UNDER RBI'S RULES
Under the RBI's card tokenisation framework, merchants cannot store customers' card details. Instead, only authorised card networks are allowed to store tokenised card data.
The rules also require this tokenised data to be stored within India.
Further, the report said Apple has been working with banks to launch Apple Pay in India. At the same time, it has been coordinating with card networks to comply with the RBI's tokenisation and data localisation requirements.
HOW APPLE IS HANDLING DATA STORAGE
Globally, Apple stores tokenised payment data on servers located in the United States, Denmark for the European Union, and China.
However, according to sources, Apple will not mirror tokenised payment data for Indian users on these overseas servers in order to comply with the RBI's data localisation rules.
Apple has restarted credit and debit card payments for App Store and iCloud purchases in India after a gap of five years, according to a Moneycontrol report. The feature is currently being tested with a small group of users and is expected to be rolled out to all users over the next few months.
The move comes after the company complied with the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) card tokenisation rules.
WHY CARD PAYMENTS WERE STOPPED
Apple had stopped accepting credit and debit card payments in India in 2021 after the RBI introduced its card tokenisation mandate.
Since then, users could make payments for App Store purchases and iCloud subscriptions only through UPI and net banking.
According to sources quoted in the report, Apple has now enabled card payments after meeting the RBI's tokenisation requirements.
WHAT CHANGED UNDER RBI'S RULES
Under the RBI's card tokenisation framework, merchants cannot store customers' card details. Instead, only authorised card networks are allowed to store tokenised card data.
The rules also require this tokenised data to be stored within India.
Further, the report said Apple has been working with banks to launch Apple Pay in India. At the same time, it has been coordinating with card networks to comply with the RBI's tokenisation and data localisation requirements.
HOW APPLE IS HANDLING DATA STORAGE
Globally, Apple stores tokenised payment data on servers located in the United States, Denmark for the European Union, and China.
However, according to sources, Apple will not mirror tokenised payment data for Indian users on these overseas servers in order to comply with the RBI's data localisation rules.
