Will Apple Card arrive in India before it reaches Europe?

A local India nation news report that cites unattributed sources claims Apple is in talks with banks in India to perhaps introduce some version of Apple Card there. But the report cites many reasons why this may not be possible.

Years later still US-only

Apple Card has been a huge success in the US but hasn’t yet been made available outside those shores. Where Apple to introduce a similar service in India it would be underlining the importance of that market to the company. It would also be reaching out to the growing middle class there.

It’s enough to make Tim Cook wear a black tie to dinner.

The report explains some of the challenges Apple faces in making any attempt to launch Apple Card in India, but says the company is in talks with banks and regulators to launch its credit card there.

It claims Cook met HDFC Bank CEO, Sashidhar Jagdishan during his recent trip to India. But such a meeting could be circumstantial, and I think not much should be read into that. The report states that discussions are at an early stage.

Barriers to entry

Challenges to any such plan in India include:

• Apple would be bound by local regulation – it means that any card introduced would not be entirely emblazoned as an Apple product and would need numbers and security codes on board.
• Apple may not want to operate a card in that way.
• But Apple doesn’t currently accept credit card payments in India. A local system called Unified Payments Interface (API) is in wide use.
• Local regulation forbids retailers storing credit card details on their platforms.
• All payment data can only be stored on Indian servers.
• Apple would be unable to store customer or transaction data relating to the card.

Many of these regulations would make an Apple Card hard to offer in India. These barriers make me think Apple is more likely to be seeking a preferred credit partner for online sales in India.

Apple hasn’t responded to requests for comment by the original report.

My take? Unlikely, not impossible

At the same time, the barriers to such a move seem pretty high, so for at least the next couple of years I consider Apple Card India as being unlikely to happen.

It’s possible that it is only really possible to operate the popular card in the US, given the lack of progress toward offering anything elsewhere. It is of course also possible Apple has been engaged in similar meetings internationally as its payments teams attempt to develop a strategy to launch the card elsewhere.

Keep up with Apple news in India here.

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