Apple Pay vs UPI

Apple Pay arrived in India on 30 September. But no UPI support. So what's the difference? With one you tap your phone, with the other you scan a QR. For now only Axis Bank credit cards on Visa and Mastercard work. Not RuPay or debit cards yet. When you add a card, the bank gives a new

number in its place: the Device Account Number. It stays locked in the phone's Secure Element chip. Your real card number isn't saved on the phone or on Apple's servers. You confirm with Face ID, and every payment gets a new one-time code. The phone taps, the request goes to the

card network and Axis Bank approves. The shop never gets your real card number. Now UPI. Here your ID is name@bank. When you tap Pay, the app sends the request to the NPCI switch. NPCI sends it to your bank, which checks your UPI PIN and balance. If all is fine, the money goes straight

from your bank to the shopkeeper's bank. So Apple Pay runs on card rails. UPI runs bank to bank. And UPI's scale? 24 billion transactions in September 2026, over 80 crore a day. So UPI for your chai, Apple Pay for credit card rewards. Which will you use? Tell me in the comments.