Apple Restores Bank Card Payments in India After Four-Year Hiatus

Apple has begun restoring the ability to pay for Apple Account purchases via bank cards in the Indian market. This move, coming after a four-year hiatus, is seen as the tech giant's latest step toward complying with local regulatory requirements. This change significantly simplifies the digital service experience for iPhone users. This is reported by Techcrunch.com reports .

Under the new rules, users can now link their Visa and Mastercard credit and debit cards to their Apple Account. This option applies to subscriptions like iCloud+, Apple Music, and purchases in the App Store. For context, Apple stopped accepting card payments in May 2022 due to changes in the country's recurring payment system.

Regulatory Requirements and Technical Solutions

According to TechCrunch, new rules introduced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2021 required merchants and payment providers to implement strong customer authentication and use tokenized card data. Additionally, companies were prohibited from storing customer card details on their own servers. Apple completely overhauled its backend system to meet these complex technical requirements.

For the past two years, Indian users have been forced to pay for subscriptions only via UPI (a local instant payment network), net-banking, or by pre-loading their Apple Account balance. The restrictions on cards caused inconvenience for many users and complicated the automatic subscription renewal process.

Global Pressure and Local Adaptation

Apple's move in India reflects shifts in its global strategy. Today, governments around the world are introducing specific regulations for digital platforms. For instance, legislative changes in the European Union, Japan, and South Korea are also forcing the Cupertino-based company to localize its App Store and payment systems.

Tarun Pathak, Research Director at Counterpoint Research, noted that while this update is long overdue, it removes one of the main barriers to subscription renewals. As Apple's services business in India grows at a double-digit rate, providing users with more payment methods is of strategic importance to the company.

Furthermore, the return of bank cards has revived speculation about the launch of Apple Pay in India. Although the company has not yet announced official plans, the alignment of payment infrastructure with local legislation could pave the way for this service. Currently, the card payment feature is being rolled out in stages and will be available to all users in the near future.