India is reportedly launching biometric authentication for Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions starting on Wednesday, with the move enabling users to verify and approve payments through facial recognition or fingerprints.

UPI is a real-time payment system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). It was launched in 2016 to simplify digital payments and now handles billions of transactions per month.

According to a Reuters report, three sources directly familiar with the matter confirmed the news on Tuesday. They added that authentication will be carried out using biometric data stored as part of the Indian government's unique identification system, with the aim of ensuring security as the country faces a rise in digital fraud.

This change follows new guidelines from the RBI that allow alternative methods of authentication beyond the traditional system requiring a numeric PIN to complete payments.

The new RBI regulations require two-factor authentication (2FA) but aim to allow flexibility in the factors used, such as biometrics, device-native tokens, or app-based verification.

Biometric technology is increasingly being implemented by financial institutions and payments firms across the world.

Last year, Mastercard announced plans to phase out manual card and password entry in favour of smiles and fingerprints by the end of 2030.

At the time, the company said it plans to replace the need for manual card entry and static or one-time passwords by combining tokenisation and biometric authentication for more secure payment processes. .

---