Apple stopped taking card payments in India, RBI’s new rule became a ‘disaster’ for users.
Apple has stopped accepting card payments in India for service subscriptions and app purchases. Now the user will have to use other payment options for services like Link Apps, iCloud and Apple Music etc. with his Apple ID. Users will not be able to make billing for these services from users through their debit cards or credit cards. Apple has taken this decision due to the new auto debit rules of RBI (Reserve Bank of India) which came in October last year.
Users are getting this message
Several Apple users have complained about the removal of credit or debit cards from the main payment method on micro blogging platform Twitter. Users who already had their Apple ID linked for debit or credit card preferred payments are no longer able to make Fresh Payments for their Apple IDs. The user is getting the message “This card type is no longer supported” ie “This card type is no longer supported”.
As per the details listed on the Apple Support page on April 18, 2022, at this time users in India can only choose UPI, Net Banking and Apple ID balance as payment options for Apple’s services. Apple has made this change from April 18 last month.
The company said this on the support page
The company has written on its support page that regulatory requirements are applicable for recurring transactions in India. If you are an Indian debit or credit card holder and have a subscription to Apple’s services, this change will be reflected on your transaction. Certain transactions may be rejected by the bank or the card issuer.
According to Apple’s support page, the regulatory requirements refer to the new auto debit rule implemented by RBI last year, due to which Apple is not able to accept recurring payments through cards for services from its users. After this change, the iPhone maker has turned to other digital payment methods such as UPI, net banking and Apple ID Wallet.
What does RBI’s new auto debit rule say?
According to the auto debit rule implemented by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from October, merchants like Apple, Netflix etc. will have to set an e-mandate for recurring payments from the customer card. For this, two-factor authentication will be mandatory. The new rule also says that for payment of more than Rs 5,000, the customer will have to give consent.
This is the reason why Apple has stopped receiving payments through cards. However, apart from Apple, Google is also affected due to RBI’s new auto debit rule, due to which users are facing problems in making recurring payments through cards for Google Play and YouTube. Google is also unable to charge recurring payments from users after the RBI ban.
Apart from Apple and Google, Netflix has also been affected due to this new rule. The company has started using the UPI AutoPay service for billing. This service was started by NPCI i.e. National Payment Corporation of India in 2020.
