Samsung Pay, Samsung Electronics’ flagship mobile payments service, made its debut in India today. 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.

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.”

Payments through Samsung Pay can be accepted at all places where a physical card will work. To launch Samsung Pay, a user will just have to swipe up on a compatible phone, select the card, authenticate using a fingerprint or PIN and bring the phone close to the PoS terminal.

Samsung Pay works with Samsung’s patented Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology as well as with Near Field Communication (NFC). Since a majority of PoS terminals in India are MST enabled, they will work seamlessly with Samsung Pay.

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.

Mr. Thomas Ko, Vice President and Global Manager, Samsung Pay said, “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.”

Samsung Pay has created a unique digital payment ecosystem by partnering with a number of banks and payment gateways. Partners include Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI Cards and Standard Chartered Bank. Citibank India is a forthcoming issuer and its credit cards will be live on Samsung Pay shortly.

“Our insights show that convenience, security and acceptance are seen by consumers as the most important influencers when choosing among different digital payment options,” said Mr. Asim Warsi, Senior Vice President, Mobile Business, Samsung India. “With Samsung Pay, we give our consumers the smartest way to make digital transactions by far.”

Samsung Pay is currently available on Galaxy S7 edge, Galaxy S7, Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 edge+, Galaxy A5 (2016), Galaxy A7 (2016), Galaxy A5 (2017) and Galaxy A7 (2017).

Samsung Pay will also be available on the Samsung Gear S3 Smartwatch shortly, allowing users to pay with just the movement of their hand.