The Apple Pay rethink

The absence of a coherent NFC-enabled payment ecosystem could force Apple to look elsewhere: maybe, mobile wallets

The lack of a coherent NFC-based payments ecosystem is thwarting Apple's payment plans for India

Problems include lack of availability of NFC-enabled PoS terminals, low merchant awareness and poor issuance rates from banks

But Apple might be taking the wallet route to India, based on its learnings from China

With only 2% market share, its impact, if and when it arrives, remains to be seen

In May 2016, when Apple CEO Tim Cook visited India, he made a big ticket announcement that got the country’s fintech community buzzing. Cook said that Apple wanted to bring its mobile payments and digital wallet service—Apple Pay—to India. The announcement came following his meeting with ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar in Mumbai, where Cook in his own words “tried to understand how their view of mobile payments would play out.”

Since Cook’s visit, the company has made progress in following up on the CEO’s announcements, specifically, Apple Pay. There is an emerging view within the government that Apple Pay should be allowed to enter the market, especially since digital transactions are on the rise.

AUTHOR

Venkat Ananth

Venkat is currently in his tenth year in journalism. Prior to The Ken, he was Deputy Content Editor at Mint as part of the newspaper’s digital team. He also wrote in-depth features on the business of sport for the newspaper. His earlier assignments include Yahoo! (as a columnist) and the Hindustan Times, where he began his career. Born in Mumbai, Venkat holds a Bachelor of Mass Media (Journalism) degree from SIES College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai and a Master of Arts degree in International Studies from Goldsmiths, University of London. He currently resides in New Delhi, where he moved nearly five years ago.

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