By
Mayowa Adebajo
April 3rd, 2023
The State Bank of India (SBI) and Samsung India unveiled on Tuesday that users of SBI debit cards will now be able to conduct payments using Samsung Pay.
South Korean tech giant announced during an event in Mumbai that its Samsung Pay payment platform will now be available for holders of higher variants of SBI debit cards. The move is aimed at expanding the advantages of digital payments to more users of Samsung smartphones in India.
This will enable owners of Samsung mobile phones to make payments at stores, restaurants, and other point-of-sale (PoS) terminals without the need to use physical cards. According to SBI, more than 130 million customers are now using their debit cards. With the support of Samsung Pay, the bank expects a 10- 20 times growth in the volume of payments.
“Both Samsung and SBI are household names in India and it is a momentous occasion for us to collaborate on Samsung Pay and extend an innovative solution that is transforming people’s lives worldwide,” said Asim Warsi, Senior Vice President, Mobile Business, Samsung India.
To drive the adoption of the service, the company has also announced an inaugural cashback offer of up to Rs 500, which will run until August 31. The owners of SBI debit cards will be able to get a Rs 100 cashback on a minimum purchase of Rs 500.
“We are committed to increasing the share of digital initiatives in products, services and transactions. Tie-up with Samsung Pay is one such initiative which will give our customers an additional reason to go digital,” said Rajnish Kumar, MD, National Banking Group, SBI.
Samsung Pay uses Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) and Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies, allowing customers to securely transfer money with their smartphones. Users will just need to open Samsung Pay app, choose the card, tap the device to the metal strip of the PoS card reader, and authenticate the payment with fingerprint.
The platform was first released in India last March and now works on more than 2.5 million PoS card readers across the country.
The extension of Samsung Pay shows that India is actively embracing technological advancements. According to the ‘Digital Payments 2020’ report by Google and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the digital payments sector in India is expected to reach $500 billion by 2020.
Samsung Pay is now available on all Galaxy smartphone versions, including Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, Galaxy S7 Edge, Galaxy S7, Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 Edge+, Galaxy A5 (2016), Galaxy A7 (2016), Galaxy A5 (2017), Galaxy A7 (2017), Galaxy A9 Pro, and the latest Galaxy J7 Pro.
In June, Samsung launched Samsung Pay Mini app for its budget mobile phones in India with support for UPI and digital wallets like Paytm and Mobikwik.
