Android phone maker Samsung had launched its digital payment application, Samsung Pay, in the country today as Indians look to shift to newer payment methods after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation exercise. The first commercial transaction of Samsung Pay in India was carried out in the presence of NITI Aayog CEO Mr. Amitabh Kant and Samsung Southwest Asia President and CEO Mr. HC Hong in front of a capacity audience that included key banking and card networks executives.

Samsung Pay is ‘Simple, Secure and Almost Everywhere’, making it a revolutionary payments system. Apart from allowing users in India to simply tap and ‘pay on the go’ using their registered cards, Samsung Pay has integrated digital wallet PayTM as well as the government’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) into its app. The integration of Samsung Pay with local payments solutions is in line with Samsung’s ‘Make for India’ commitment.

Currently Samsung Pay works with select models of company’s line of Galaxy smartphones—Samsung Galaxy Note 5, Samsung Galaxy S7, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+, Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016 and 2017) and Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016 and 2017).



The service works with all regular swipe-based card machines which support NFC or MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission). The former works by building a high frequency wireless network between the phone and the payment terminal, while the latter creates a dynamic magnetic field between the smart phone and the payment terminal’s card reader.

The user can make the payment by tapping the smartphone on a NFC enabled point-of-sale machine, selecting the card and authenticating the transaction through biometrics, fingerprints or a four digit PIN. With other cards terminal that does not support NFC feature, the payment can be made using MST and thus is convenient to use everywhere.

Mr. HC Hong, President and CEO, Samsung Southwest Asia, said, “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.”

Since its launch in July 2015, Samsung Pay has rapidly expanded its service by supporting additional value-added features in multiple markets worldwide. With its launch in India, Samsung Pay is fully available in 12 global markets, including South Korea, the US, China, Spain, Singapore, Australia, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Russia, Thailand and Malaysia.

Samsung Pay has created a unique digital payment ecosystem by partnering with a number of banks and payment gateways. Partners include Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI Cards, Standard Chartered Bank and Citibank and payment gateways, Visa, MasterCard and American Express.