At the Global Fintech Festival yesterday, Xiaomi announced its future plans for contactless payments. The company announced that it will launch Xiaomi NFC Mi Pay straps for its smartwatches and Mi bands soon that will allow users to experience contactless payments at offline stores. The company will be partnering with NCPI, RBL and Zeta for this.
Even though some of Xiaomi’s smartphones feature NFC for contactless payments, the company is yet to launch a Mi Watch with NFC support and Mi Band 6 NFC in India.
The Mi Pay straps will be available on Mi.com and Mi Stores soon. You need to activate Mi Pay pre-paid card, and activate the straps to use them to pay at stores offline. These straps are also compatible with National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) that lets you pay for transport such as metro rail, MTC besides retail shopping.
Commenting on the new announcement, Raghu Reddy, Chief Business Officer, Xiaomi India, said:
Xiaomi band and smartwatches have always been about your fitness and lifestyle. Since the launch of first Mi Band way back in 2015 we have shipped more than 7 million Mi Band and consistently been the number one fitness bands for the last 3+ years. Today, I am very thrilled to share that you will be able to use Xiaomi bands and smartwatches for contactless payments. We are working very closely with NPCI, RBL and Zeta to make this happen very, very soon.