Razorpay, Cashfree roll out Apple Pay for Indian merchants selling overseas
The launches come ahead of India's peak festive shopping season, when demand for Indian goods traditionally surges among the diaspora and international buyers.
Apple Pay has arrived in India, but Indians can't use it.
Razorpay and Cashfree Payments have rolled out Apple Pay as a checkout option for international customers buying from Indian merchants, while Apple’s wallet remains officially unavailable for domestic use.
Last week, Razorpay integrated Apple Pay for international transactions, calling itself the first Indian payment aggregator to do so. Early pilots processed over 5,000 payments in the first two weeks. Brands using the feature include luggage maker Mokobara and airline Akasa Air, among others.
Today, on September 23, Cashfree also added Apple Pay support for Indian merchants selling abroad. The fintech is working with international cards in the US, UK, Canada, UAE, and Europe, and is built into Cashfree’s international payment gateway for Indian merchants.
The payment aggregators are positioning the integration as a way to reduce checkout friction and keep more customers from abandoning their carts.
Cashfree said Apple Pay can cut drop-offs by up to 75% in travel, SaaS and global ecommerce sectors. Razorpay, citing pilot data, showed conversion gains of nearly 58% and noticeably faster transaction times.
The timing appears strategic, coming ahead of India's peak festive shopping season when demand for Indian goods traditionally surges among the diaspora and international buyers.
The tie-ups stop short of a domestic launch. Indian shoppers still can’t add local cards to Apple Wallet for in-India purchases, and Apple hasn’t announced any change to that status. Apple maintains a public registry of markets where the wallet is supported; India isn’t listed.
Indian iPhone users have long been locked out of Apple Pay’s full functionality, unable to add local debit or credit cards and restricted to storing passes or tickets in the Wallet app.
In 2023 and 2024, Apple reportedly reopened talks with Indian regulators to carve out a domestic path forward. The discussions centred on a localised version of Apple Pay that could ride on top of UPI, enabling users to make QR code-based payments while still leveraging Apple’s hallmark security features, like Face ID for authentication, according to TechCrunch.
Meanwhile, Cashfree Payments and Razorpay, through their PA-CB licenses, are targeting global merchants who want to tap Indian consumers without setting up a local entity via UPI QR and app-based payments. Cashfree also helps Indian customers pay with UPI on international websites.
The fintech has built an Import Stack that lets overseas businesses collect payments in Indian rupees using preferred domestic methods, while Razorpay offers a similar service through its RBI-granted license.
Their gateways enable Indian customers to pay on international websites via UPI (one-time or recurring), RuPay, net banking, wallets, and cards, with settlements made in the merchant’s chosen currency.
Edited by Suman Singh