Apple stops accepting payments using credit cards issued by Indian banks

Tech giant Apple has stopped accepting payments via debit and credit cards in India.

Apple has stopped accepting cards for subscriptions, and purchases using credit cards issued by banks in India. Apple will also not accept payments for ad campaigns on Apple Search using credit cards issued by Indian banks. All campaigns will be put on hold from 1 June.

The change has come as a result of the new auto-debit rules from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that came into force last year and is disrupting recurring online transactions.

In an email to users, Apple said: “Due to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulations, Apple Search Ads will soon no longer accept payments from credit cards issued by banks in India.”

The company also said: “Starting 1 June, all campaigns using a credit card issued from a bank in India will be placed on hold. To avoid a lapse in serving ads to your customers, you can use a credit card issued by a bank outside of India. You can update your payment method by going to the billing tab in your account settings.”

An email sent to Apple India regarding payment options available for businesses and users remain unanswered. Many users also stated that they were unable to make payments for Apple subscriptions like iCloud. Users were unable to pay from the Apple ID accounts as well.

In April this year, Apple had also allowed users in India to make payments using Apple’s ID account using UPI and netbanking. However, that too had its share of problems.

 “This will impact developers running campaigns on Apple Search Ads as their ads will not show up during search. So, if you were searching for a dating app, TrulyMadly advertisements will not show up as payments have been stopped,” said Snehil Khanor, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO), TrulyMadly.com.

Khanor also said that other platforms such as Meta (Facebook) and Google have provided several other payment options for users and businesses.

Business Standard spoke to some developers who clarified that a minor share of revenue comes from Apple, and a chunk of business comes from Android. The impact of the latest problem, hence, was difficult to explain.

Since the RBI’s mandate came into effect, platforms like Apple, Google, Meta, OTT players and all other merchants have had to alert customers via an e-mandate. Customers now need two-factor authentication. People also have to set up a fresh e-mandate for recurring payments. The rules also require customers to give their consent each time they need to pay a subsequent payment of above Rs 5,000.