Apple stops accepting debit, credit cards for subscriptions, app purchases in India

Apple has stopped accepting payments for subscriptions and app purchases using Apple ID in India. Now users cannot use their Indian credit or debit card to buy apps from the App Store, get Apple subscriptions such as iCloud+ and Apple Music, or buy media content from Apple with an Indian credit or debit card. The new auto-debit rules from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) came into force last year and are causing this change.

Apple's support page listing the available payment methods in each country it operates shows that the company currently only supports net banking, UPI, and Apple ID balance as the three options to receive payments. 

It was clear in the new rules that auto-debit payments like utility bills, phone recharge or OTT subscriptions will not be made automatically. For each payment, manual approval of the customer will be required.

The regulatory requirements, which are essentially the new auto-debit rules that RBI implemented, are limiting Apple from receiving recurring payments from users in India via credit and debit cards. The change is also making the iPhone maker accept transactions through UPI and net banking — the two features that it had introduced for its users in the country last year.

This change will also affect Ad campaigns in Apple search. App developers often run ads to keep their apps on top of the Apple Store so that customers can download their apps.

According to the app developers, the majority of the revenue comes from Android users, so how much it will affect their business will be known in the coming time, but still, there is a possibility that subscriptions will fall.