Winning Bizness Desk
Mumbai. Apple will soon launch its first credit card 'Apple Card' in India and for this venture Apple is planning to partner with HDFC Bank to introduce its credit card in India. This will be a co-branded credit card of the company. However, till now no official information has been given about it by Apple or HDFC Bank. According to the reports, in April, Apple CEO Tim Cook had met HDFC Bank CEO and MD Shashidhar Jagadishan during his visit to India. As per preliminary reports, Apple will not charge for late payment of due bills in India. However, card users will have to pay interest on their due payments. Along with this, the company will give cashback and instant discount on buying Apple products by paying through this card. Significantly, in the US, the company does not charge any kind of late fee from the card holders for making late payments.
Won't get a special dispensation
Apple officials have also discussed the card with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which, according to the sources, has asked Apple to follow the prescribed procedure for the card. The central bank clarified that Apple will not be given a special dispensation to bring credit cards to India. The company was launched with a joint partnership of Goldman Sachs and Mastercard. The news about the launch of Apple Card in India comes at a time when tech giants like Amazon, Samsung and Google are expanding their businesses in the payments sector. All these three companies have launched their respective co-branded credit cards in India. Apple has been focusing on India for the last few years to make its products. Recently, the company has made a new record of iPhone exports from India. According to the report of the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), in the month of May, total smartphone exports from India were worth Rs 12,000 crore, of which 80% were iPhones.
Business in India growing up
According to ICEA data, iPhone exports worth Rs 10,000 crore have been made from India in the month of May. In the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), India exported iPhones worth $ 5 billion i.e. Rs 40,951 crore. With this, iPhone has become the first brand to achieve this milestone in India. In such a situation, by launching its own credit card in India, the company wants to increase its business in the payment sector as well.
