Wear N Pay; Axis Bank with country’s first contactless wearable payment devices

Here comes the private sector lender Axis Bank with country’s first contactless wearable payment devices. The devices are said to enable on-the-go transactions more conveniently. With the launch of ‘Wear N Pay’ wearable devices brand, Axis Bank becomes the first bank in India to offer such a service.

The bank announced that it has partnered with Thales and Tappy Technologies to design these products, which are available on the Mastercard platform. The wearables are directly linked to the customers’ bank account so that it can function like a regular debit card. This helps customers to do their purchases at any location that accepts contactless transactions.

“With the increasing number of digital payments users, we see a huge opportunity in contactless payments, which will continue to grow, given the post pandemic situation and the need for social distancing. Contactless payments are the future of payments industry in India,” Sanjeev Moghe, EVP & Head-Cards & Payments, Axis Bank said.

The devices are budget friendly and offers secure mode of payments on the go. The devices are in the form of watch loop, key chain and band. They can be availed for an annual fee of Rs 750 and subsequently Rs 500 a year. The developers believe that it is the apt time to discover new secure payment methods and contactless wearable payment devices are on demand.

“Mastercard is constantly innovating technologies that securely and seamlessly integrate contactless payments into people’s day-to-day lives. Given that the wearable tech space is an integral part of driving contactless payments, this launch and partnership is a further testimony to Mastercard working towards building a secure and inclusive payments ecosystem,” Vikas Varma, COO-South Asia, Mastercard said.

‘Wear N Pay’ devices can be purchased at any Axis Bank branch or via phone banking. Bank also said that the transactions up to Rs 5,000 can be done without any PIN.