Samsung Pay to launch in India with support from five Visa and Mastercard issuers — and Paytm

Samsung Pay India
EARLY START: Indian Galaxy owners can now use Samsung Pay ahead of its official launch

Samsung has begun inviting Galaxy phone owners in India to register for early access to Samsung Pay. Customers can opt to pre-register Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Standard Chartered Bank debit or credit cards and SBI Card credit cards today with support for American Express and Citibank to follow. Paytm‘s market leading mobile wallet will also be supported by the service.

Customers will need a Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge+, Galaxy A7 (2016) or Galaxy A5 (2016) device to take part in the Samsung Pay Early Access Program, the company says.

To make a credit or debit card payment in a retail outlet, users will initiate Samsung Pay by swiping up from any screen or from the Samsung Pay app, then select the card they want to pay with by swiping left or right and verify themselves by either entering a PIN on their smartphone or using fingerprint verification. They then simply place their phone near to the retailer’s NFC or magnetic stripe card terminal to complete their purchase.

Wallet integration

Customers will also be able to link their Paytm Wallet to Samsung Pay and use the prepaid mobile wallet to make QR payments in stores without needing to have a separate Paytm app on their smartphone.

To make use of the integration with Paytm, users will need to select ‘Wallet’ on the main Samsung Pay screen and tap ‘Add Paytm’. They will then be able to link their existing Paytm account to Samsung Pay by entering their mobile phone number.

“In case you don’t have an existing Paytm wallet, a new one can be created through Samsung Pay,” the company says. Users can then “make payments using Paytm on Samsung Pay irrespective of having the Paytm app on smartphone”.

Paytm users can also top up their wallet balance from within Samsung Pay by tapping on ‘Add’ to open the add money page and selecting which credit or debit card they wish to use as a source of new funds.

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