Apple to take on Facebook, Paytm with digital payments within iMessage

To be seen if global players are able to make a dent in India's fast-growing digital payment space

Apple has announced that it will enable person-to-person (p2p) payments within its instant messaging service iMessage with the roll-out of its latest mobile operating system iOS 11 later this year.

The service will be made available through Apple Pay, the company's proprietary payment service that currently allows users to pay for things in stores, on the web and within apps. 

While Apple Pay is not available in India yet, over the past one year the company has made at least five patent applications with the Indian patent office for innovations related to digital payments. The announcement was made on Monday at its