Indian mobile commerce giant Paytm is trialling the use of ultrasonic sound waves for instore payments.
The firms is preparing to add a 'Sound Pay' icon to its mobile app which when pressed will transmit data via sound waves confirming the customer's credentials and amount to pay to the merchant's app.
The store's app checks the information and whether the customer's account has sufficient funds before completing the transaction.
Nitin Misra, head of products, Paytm, told the Economic Times that the technology is currently being piloted and could be ready for a commercial roll-out at convenience stores in a couple of months.
Although yet to take off, sound wave-based mobile payments have been trialled elsewhere, including in China by Alipay, whose parent, Alibaba, owns a 40% stake in Paytm.