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

Apple users have taken to Twitter to complain about the elimination of credit and debit card options from the payment methods Apple accepts in India for purchases using Apple ID. Users who already have a card added as a payment method to their accounts are also not able to make any fresh payments through the Apple ID.

Apple stops accepting credit/debit card payments

When users are trying to add or make payments through cards, Apple is throwing an error message saying “This card type is no longer supported.”

Apple’s support page that lists the available payment methods in each country it operates shows the Cupertino giant only supports net banking, UPI and Apple ID balance as the three options to receive payments. Apparently, the change took place in April according to the support page.

“Regulatory requirements in India apply to the processing of recurring transactions. If you hold an Indian debit or credit card and you have a subscription, these changes impact your transactions. Some transactions might be declined by banks and card issuers,” said the support page in an update. This change is also pushing the iPhone maker to accept transactions through UPI and net banking.

For those unaware, the new rule requires merchants like Apple to set up an e-mandate for customer cards. On the other hand, customers also need to use two-factor authentication and set up a fresh e-mandate for recurring payments. Customers need to give their consent each time they need to pay a subsequent payment of Rs 5,000 above. The system processing with the given requirements is yet to be updated to a large extent.

Besides Apple, Google was also impacted due to the RBI update. Customers are facing trouble in making recurring payments and purchases via their cards on Google Play and YouTube. Netflix introduced UPI Autopay support for recurring payments on its platform.