Samsung launches mobile payments service Samsung Pay in India

Samsung Electronics has launched its flagship mobile payments service - Samsung Pay - in India. Apart from allowing users to tap and pay using their registered cards, Samsung Pay has integrated Paytm as well as the government's Unified Payments Interface into the app.

''Samsung Pay is an example of how we continue to push the boundaries of innovations to make life simpler and better for consumers. I am confident Samsung Pay will redefine digital payments and contribute to Digital India,'' said HC Hong, President and CEO, Samsung Southwest Asia.

''When we launched Samsung Pay, our goal was to enable consumers across the globe to make payments that are simple, secure and accepted almost everywhere. Over the past year-and-a-half, this vision has evolved into building a complete digital wallet solution, allowing customers worldwide to not only make payments but also use membership and transit cards, receive deals and rewards and more,'' said Thomas Ko, Global GM of Samsung Pay.

Samsung has also created a digital payment ecosystem by partnering with a number of issuers and card networks such as Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI Card and Standard Chartered Bank. Citibank India is a forthcoming issuer and its credit cards will be live on Samsung Pay shortly.

Samsung Pay is a highly secure platform as it works with three levels of security-fingerprint authentication, card tokenisation and Samsung's defence-grade mobile security platform Samsung KNOX.

To launch Samsung Pay, a user needs to swipe on an eligible Samsung Galaxy smartphone, select the card, authenticate using a fingerprint or PIN and bring the phone near the Point of Sale terminal.

Samsung Pay works with Samsung's patented Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology and Near Field Communication (NFC). MST replicates a card swipe by wirelessly transmitting magnetic waves from the supported Samsung device to a standard card reader. Through MST, Samsung pay will work seamlessly on a majority of Point of Sale terminals in India.

Samsung Pay will also be available on the Samsung Gear S3 Smartwatch shortly, allowing users to pay through their wearable device.