Boat has made quite a name for itself in the wearable industry, and now it has taken a step to solidify its reign. Boat smartwatch users will now be able to use tap and pay functionality at eligible point-of-sale (POS) terminals in India. Boat is partnering up with Mastercard to enable this service. An announcement on the same was made at the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2024 on Friday (August 30).
This upcoming functionality will be accessed via Boat's official application and will be secured by Mastercard's tokenisation capabilities.
Tap & Pay Feature
Boat in a press release stated that its payment-enabled smartwatches can be used to make transactions via tap and pay method at POS terminals. The release added that for transactions amounting up to Rs 5,000, the user won't have to enter any PIN. Security will be upheld through the use of cryptograms that power Mastercard's device tokenisation technology.
The Co-Founder and the CEO of Boat, Sameer Mehta, said, “Our partnership with Mastercard will help widen access to a consumer base which has continuously shown eagerness to adapt to newer modes of contactless payments.”
The company announces that tap-and-pay functionality will be offered to Mastercard cardholders from several major banks in India, with plans to extend it to additional banks over time.
Other Announcements At GFF 2024
In addition to Mastercard, Bharti Airtel and Google Pay made notable announcements at the event. Airtel, in partnership with Noise, unveiled a smartwatch equipped with National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) technology. This smartwatch features an integrated RuPay chip, allowing users to make transactions directly from their wrist. Similar to Boat's new tap-and-pay feature, Airtel’s smartwatch users can make contactless payments up to Rs. 5,000 without needing to enter a PIN.
On the other hand, Google introduced a new feature called UPI Circle on Google Pay. This feature allows users to authorise their loved ones to make digital payments without having to link their own bank accounts. Users can set a monthly spending limit for these secondary users or choose to approve each transaction individually.