
Xiaomi has announced the launch of its mobile payment platform ‘Mi Pay’ in India. Based on the unified payments interface (UPI), the app will be rolled out to all Mi users across the country in the coming weeks.
The company announced the launch of Mi Pay at the Redmi Go India launch event which was hosted in New Delhi on March 19.
Mi Pay users will be able to send money directly to any bank account from SMS, Contacts and Scanner apps. It also lets the user make payments through UPI, a payments interface which is owned and managed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
Mi Pay is deeply integrated into MIUI, Xiaomi India COO Muralikrishnan said at the Redmi Go launch event.
From payment of bills to transferring money, Mi Pay is pitched as an easy way to transfer payments. Xiaomi says all user data will be locally stored in India, making Mi Pay highly secure.
The smartphone maker started beta-testing of the Mi Pay app in December last year after clearance from NPCI. Mi Pay became a part of the MIUI 10 Global Beta ROM last month.
With the launch of Mi Pay, Xiaomi aims to take on established UPI-based payments apps such as PayTM, PhonePe and Google Pay in India. Facebook-owned WhatsApp is also working on its own UPI-based payments system WhatsApp Pay, which is already in the testing phase.
This is the first time Xiaomi has announced any financial service outside of China. Xiaomi had first launched Mi Pay service in China back in 2016.