‘No Phone, No Wallet’: Muse Wearables, NPCI launch India’s first tap-to-pay Smart Ring

Hyderabad: A Smart Ring called ‘Ring One’ has been introduced to make instant, secure payments, as part of India’s first wearable payments ecosystem, powered by Muse Wallet and NPCI’s trusted RuPay network.

The gadget has been launched with the Indian technology firm Muse Wearables in partnership with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

‘No phone, card, or wallet required’

The new gadget allows users to make instant, secure payments by tapping their stylish Smart Ring on any NFC-enabled POS terminal - no phone, card, or wallet required.

The company said that the gadget is already live in 40+ countries and supports cards from nearly 600 banks. “Muse Wallet now brings its global platform to India through RuPay, democratising access to secure, effortless digital payments for millions of users across the country, including Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities,” the company said in a statement.

Made-in-India tech

Highlighting the need for indigenous wallet systems, KLN Sai Prasanth, co-founder and CEO, Muse Wearables, said, “We are taking on foreign tech giants in the digital wallet ecosystem by creating a truly sovereign alternative for India. This proves that world-class technology can be built right here in India. With Muse Wallet, we are making cashless payments effortless. In the next two years, we aim to enable millions of RuPay cardholders to experience the convenience of wearable payments.”

“With the help of trusted partners like NPCI and RuPay, Muse Wearables is proud to launch Ring One and Muse Wallet, India’s first Secure Element Tokenisation Platform. I am deeply grateful to the teams at NPCI and RuPay for their vision and collaboration, to LivQuik as our first issuer partner, and to Infineon for their invaluable technology partnership. Above all, I thank the incredible team at Muse Wearables who made this possible,” he said.

How does the Muse Wallet work?

According to the company, Muse Wallet is a deep-tech payments platform that enables tokenised, hardware-level transactions using a Secure Element embedded within Ring One.

Muse Wallet enables any RuPay credit or debit card to be converted into a secure digital token and stored directly inside a tamper-resistant Secure Element (SE) chip — the same grade of hardware security used in bank cards and passports.

The company said this ensures complete isolation of sensitive credentials from the phone’s operating system or applications. Muse Wearables has already begun onboarding issuing banks onto Muse Wallet and aims to support all issuers in India, making this new form of payment truly ubiquitous.

Elaborating on the technology behind this product, Prathyusha Kamarajugadda, co-founder and COO, Muse Wearables, said, “Our vision has always been to merge wellness, security, and convenience in one beautiful form factor. With Muse Wallet, we are building India’s first Secure Element Tokenisation Platform, enabling users to add any RuPay card and pay instantly — no phone, no wallet, just a tap of your ring. It is a proud moment to see an idea born in India set a new benchmark for personal technology globally.”

The process of using Smart Ring

Here is a step-by-step process of how it works:

- Users add their RuPay card in the Muse App, either by scanning or manual entry.

- Muse Wallet communicates with the Rupay card network and the issuer bank to generate a unique token for that card.

- The token is securely transmitted to the Secure Element inside Ring One, where it is encrypted and stored.

- When the ring is tapped at an NFC terminal, the Secure Element executes the transaction without ever exposing the actual card number.

- This hardware-level isolation makes Muse Wallet a new benchmark for wearable security in India.

- Payments work only when the ring is worn; removing it instantly disables transactions. If the ring is lost or stolen, the token remains inert and useless without the authenticated context.

- Muse’s Secure Element stack is entirely engineered in-house, combining hardware, firmware, and cloud infrastructure built to global banking standards.

What are Muse Wearables?

Headquartered in Bangalore with operations in the USA, Europe, and other regions, Muse Wearables is a 200-member deep-tech team designing and manufacturing cutting-edge products that are beautiful, functional, and deeply human.

Muse Wearables is a deep-tech consumer electronics company focused on building next-generation smart rings, wearables, and AI interfaces that seamlessly merge health, payments, and intelligent interaction into everyday life. The company integrates hardware, software, AI, and fintech into a unified platform that transforms how people monitor their well-being, make transactions, and connect with technology.

The NPCI, an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India, is an initiative of the RBI and the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) to create a robust Payment and Settlement Infrastructure in India.