Following reports earlier this month that credit and debit cards no longer seemed to work for Apple app and subscription payments in India, Apple has now confirmed that it has, indeed, stopped accepting either payment method in the country.
As reported by The Economic Times, Apple said it had made the change in response to new Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulations that are set to take effect from June 1, explaining: “credit and debit cards can no longer be used for purchases or subscriptions on the App Store or other Apple services.”
It means that if Apple users in India wish to continue paying for subscriptions or services such as Apple Music or Apple TV+, they will need to use the country’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) service to load Apple Wallet with sufficient funds for the purchases they intend to make.
The tech giant also said that it would not continue to store card information from Indian users on file.
The change to the law in India, which affects recurring payments, was approved by the RBI in October 2021, and it was spotted on May 5 that Apple had consequently halted card payments in the country. An Apple support page mentioned that regulation changes might cause some transactions to be declined.
Apple has said that subscriptions will continue for users that have sufficient balance to cover the recurring payments.