Early in March Samsung started accepting registrations for an Early Access Samsung Pay program in India, and today, Samsung has launched its Samsung Pay program in India along with support for Paytm wallet accounts as well. Samsung has agreements with Axis, HDFC, ICICI, SBI, and Standard Chartered banks, and will soon support Citibank. Samsung Pay gets a leg up on Android Pay and Apple Pay as the only mobile payment option found in India so far, but it is not without its problems. One of which is the limited number of devices Samsung Pay works on in India, which are the Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 Edge+, Galaxy A5 (2016), and the Galaxy A7 (2016). The word is that Samsung will bundle Samsung Pay in all of its newer 2017 models with the exception of the lower-end models. This fact, coupled with Samsung Pay Mini which will work on non-Samsung models, could help the platform expand in 2017.
India is a big region for Samsung and may help Samsung gain more market share in that country. India has a huge population, and if Samsung can get in there with their smartphones by way of Samsung Pay, they will take any inroads they can make. Mobile payments will most certainly grow over the next few years, and it looks like Samsung will be there with open arms.
Samsung Pay may be the best of the bunch of mobile payment options because it opens up a much bigger retailer pool by not only allowing payments via NFC, like Android Pay, but also through the Magnetic Strip Technology (MST). Many older, smaller, and local establishments still use the old card swipe for Visa and MasterCard purchases. They do not have the money to invest in more modern ‘paywave’ technology (NFC) where you simply wave your Credit or Debit card – and this is where Samsung Pay has the advantage. Many of the emerging markets are still using the old swipe machines, and it should help Samsung Pay expand at a faster rate, providing the capability is on the customer’s device. This is where Samsung Pay Mini can help them expand even further by allowing non-Samsung users take advantage of Samsung Pay. Samsung is also committed to adding fingerprint sensors on their lower-end devices for not only security but for authorizing mobile payments.