Apple brings back support for card payments in India
Five years since Apple removed support for card payments in India, the company is bringing it back. That is, soon you will be able to use your credit or debit card to make iCloud or Appstore purchases.
Apple is bringing back support for card payments for Appstore and iCloud in India. Soon, you will be able to make purchases on the two platforms using your credit or debit card, five years after the company removed it as a payment option.
As per a report from Moneycontrol, Apple is now testing support for credit and debit card payments in India with a select group of users. The move to support card payments comes after Apple reportedly complied with the Reserve Bank of India’s card tokenisation rules.
Do note that the tech giant has not publicly commented on resuming card payment support in India just yet.
Why is Apple bringing back card payments in India?
Apple stopped card payments in India in 2021 after the RBI’s tokenisation mandate came into effect. This had left customers with UPI and net banking as payment options. Though some also rely on prepaid Apple ID balances for purchases and subscriptions.
As per the report, Apple has now complied with the RBI mandate. The mandate requires only card networks to store tokenised card data, with the data being stored locally in India. This has reportedly allowed the company to enable the feature once again.
That is, you can now once again make iCloud purchases or do transactions on the Apple Appstore in the country. You can add your credit or debit card on your iPhone or iPad via the payment and shipping page in settings.
Keep in mind that the feature is still being tested. It is believed that Apple will roll it out to all users over the coming months.
The report added that Apple has been working with banks and card networks to launch Apple Pay in India, something that is said to have helped bring back card payments.
The launch of Apple Pay has faced delays, as the company needs to comply with the RBI’s tokenisation and data localisation requirements.
Globally, Apple backs up tokenised payment data on local servers in the United States, Denmark – for the European Union, and China. But as per the report, Apple does not plan to mirror the tokenised data in India. Since the company does not have a data centre in the country and has no plans of setting one up anytime soon, it is said to have come to this decision.
Apple is bringing back support for card payments for Appstore and iCloud in India. Soon, you will be able to make purchases on the two platforms using your credit or debit card, five years after the company removed it as a payment option.
As per a report from Moneycontrol, Apple is now testing support for credit and debit card payments in India with a select group of users. The move to support card payments comes after Apple reportedly complied with the Reserve Bank of India’s card tokenisation rules.
Do note that the tech giant has not publicly commented on resuming card payment support in India just yet.
Why is Apple bringing back card payments in India?
Apple stopped card payments in India in 2021 after the RBI’s tokenisation mandate came into effect. This had left customers with UPI and net banking as payment options. Though some also rely on prepaid Apple ID balances for purchases and subscriptions.
As per the report, Apple has now complied with the RBI mandate. The mandate requires only card networks to store tokenised card data, with the data being stored locally in India. This has reportedly allowed the company to enable the feature once again.
That is, you can now once again make iCloud purchases or do transactions on the Apple Appstore in the country. You can add your credit or debit card on your iPhone or iPad via the payment and shipping page in settings.
Keep in mind that the feature is still being tested. It is believed that Apple will roll it out to all users over the coming months.
The report added that Apple has been working with banks and card networks to launch Apple Pay in India, something that is said to have helped bring back card payments.
The launch of Apple Pay has faced delays, as the company needs to comply with the RBI’s tokenisation and data localisation requirements.
Globally, Apple backs up tokenised payment data on local servers in the United States, Denmark – for the European Union, and China. But as per the report, Apple does not plan to mirror the tokenised data in India. Since the company does not have a data centre in the country and has no plans of setting one up anytime soon, it is said to have come to this decision.
