HSBC India may join Apple Pay; several other banks weigh tie-ups

HSBC India may join Apple Pay by FY27-end, as the iPhone maker holds discussions with major Indian banks over commercial terms

Apple Pay could add HSBC India as its second banking partner in the country, following its much-awaited September launch exclusively with Axis Bank, according to multiple people aware of the discussions. 

HSBC India, the local arm of the UK-headquartered bank, could join the platform by the end of the current financial year (FY27), the sources said. They also revealed that several other large Indian lenders are in commercial discussions with Apple and currently assessing the economics of partnering with the iPhone maker, whose contactless payments service operates with more than 11,000 banks globally. 

The discussions come as banks assess whether the commercial terms make sense, particularly the fee Apple charges on card transactions, which comes out of the interchange income earned by issuing banks. Several lenders have been cautious about the arrangement, even as the prospect of offering Apple users a premium payments experience makes the partnership attractive. 

Ashok Vaswani, managing director and chief executive officer of Kotak Mahindra Bank, said during the lender’s second-quarter earnings call that it would eventually join Apple Pay, depending on customer demand. “As far as the Apple Pay ecosystem is concerned, we will eventually get there. If there is demand from our customers, we will make it happen over the next couple of quarters,” he said. 

Apple and HSBC India did not respond to Business Standard’s queries until press time. 

HSBC had 1.02 million credit cards in circulation as of September 2026, according to Reserve Bank of India data. HDFC Bank was the country’s largest credit card issuer, with 27.37 million cards, followed by State Bank of India with 23.16 million, ICICI Bank with 19.86 million and Axis Bank with 16.55 million. 

A person with direct knowledge of the discussions said: “An Apple partnership is important because it gives a bank’s customer, who owns a card, a better brand experience. Apple users themselves are considered on the aspirational, young side. HSBC is likely to roll out the service by the end of FY27.” 

Apple Pay allows users to store their cards in Apple Wallet and make contactless payments at merchant point-of-sale (PoS) terminals by tapping their devices, using near-field communication (NFC) technology. 

Negotiations with several large card issuers remain a work in progress, with both sides seeking to agree on Apple’s share of interchange, industry sources said. “Apple partners bilaterally with more than 11,000 banks globally. So, it is just a matter of time before banks prefer to be on the platform, given that it has managed to convince so many lenders on its commercial fee,” a second person said. 

In most global markets, Apple has negotiated a fee of around 15 basis points on each credit card transaction, although the rate varies across markets, a source said. One basis point is a hundredth of a percentage point. 

Interchange is the fee paid by the merchant’s bank to the card-issuing bank for processing a card transaction. It forms part of the merchant discount rate (MDR), which merchants pay to accept digital payments. 

In India, select Axis Bank cardholders can already use Apple Pay at online and offline merchants that accept the service. 

Apple Pay operates in more than 90 markets worldwide. Its India entry comes as Apple records double-digit growth in the country, alongside markets in Latin America and Southeast Asia. 

Beyond the tap

 

• HSBC India could join Apple Pay by FY27 end
• HSBC had 1.02 million credit cards in circulation as of September 2026
• Several lenders remain cautious over Apple’s share of interchange income
• Apple Pay partners with over 11,000 banks globally