Los Angeles: Apple has been looking forward to launching its payment feature called Apple Pay in India for a long time now.

As per GSMArena, Apple is planning to hold talks with the local regulatory bodies, specifically, the NPCI – a special division of India’s central bank Reserve Bank of India. Apple Pay would be entering into a hyper-competitive segment with players like PhonePe, GooglePay, WhatsAppPay, and Paytm, among others.

Reportedly, Tim Cook met with Indian authorities to negotiate a localized version of Apple Pay – customers to be able to scan QR codes and initiate UPI transactions without using third-party apps. Apple also wants users to confirm UPI transactions using the Face ID feature.

However, Apple hasn’t entered negotiations with local partners (banks) yet.

In March, Apple introduced “Apple Pay Later,” a buy now pay later service, but only for select customers in the US. First announced at the WWDC last year, Apple Pay Later lets users split the cost of an Apple Pay Purchase into four equal payments over six weeks, and there is no interest or late fees.