Apple today added support for UPI, RuPay, and net banking payment methods in India. Starting today, people in India will be able to add funds to their Apple ID using these new methods and make payments for purchases on App Store, Apple Music, and iTunes. The company updated its ‘Ways to Pay’ website to reflect the new changes.
People in India have been asking for support for UPI and RuPay payments for far too long now. For those unaware, RuPay is a similar solution as Visa and Master developed by the Indian government. Banks in India, especially the government-owned, have been asked to issue RuPay cards instead of Visa and Master, which made it difficult for Indian users to pay for apps and in-app purchases on the App Store who only had RuPay cards.
However, you will only be able to add funds to your Apple ID using RuPay cards. They cannot be used for making direct purchases on the App Store like Visa/Mastercard-issued cards.
UPI has been a boon for India. With UPI transactions clocking over 2.8 billion last month, UPI is becoming the preferred payment method for Indian users. From today, users in India will be able to add funds to their Apple ID using UPI and then use the funds to make purchases on App Store and Apple Music.
Apple was also looking to integrate UPI as a payment method for Apple Pay in India. The company held discussions with the Indian government to add UPI to Apple Pay back in 2018. However, the talks were ‘put on hold’ due to the country’s data localization rules and the lack of fingerprint authentication in UPI.
To add UPI, RuPay, or net banking as a payment method, you’ll need to head over to Settings —> Apple ID —> Payment & Shipping and then add your preferred way of payment.
What are your thoughts on Apple adding support for new payment methods to the App Store? Will this move encourage you to make purchases on the App Store and Apple Music? Let us know in the comments section down below!
