ICICI Bank launches NFC-based contactless mobile payment solution Touch & Pay

March 16, 2016

India’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank has launched new contactless mobile payment solution Touch & Pay based on Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.
The payment solution will enable the bank’s credit and debit customers to make in-store contactless payments by waving their smartphones near an NFC-enabled merchant terminal.
With this, ICICI Bank becomes first financial institution in the country to leverage the Host Card Emulation technique which creates virtual cards for physical debit or credit cards of the bank.
On every payment done using this service at a merchant store, one-use unique token will be generated by the Bank’s server which will be sent via encryption to the merchant in order to ensure security of the card details.
Touch & Pay facility will be available at the end of March 2016 at more than 60000 merchants across the country. It will be also incorporated into the existing Pockets application of the bank.
About Near Field Communication (NFC) technology
NFC is a short-range high frequency wireless communication technology. It basically is a set of protocols that enable two electronic devices to establish radio data communication with each other by bringing them closer typically, 10 cm (4 inches) from each other.