Digital Wallets And Ecommerce

What a few years ago seemed like science fiction, is becoming today common place: #payments with the wave of our hand. Let’s take a look. We are in the middle of a paradox: the more payments gain importance, the more they take a back seat and become invisible. Nowhere is this statement more applicable than in biometric payments, which is the ability to use biometrics such as our face, our fingerprint or even our voice to authenticate (identify) ourselves so that we can make a payment. These are real-life examples: -   Canada’s RBC bank allows since years clients to pay their bills using their voice (via the iPhone's Siri assistant).   -   Amazon launched last year to all 500+ Whole Foods Market stores in the US it’s palm recognition service for identification, payment, loyalty membership, and entry.   -   In China tech giant Tencent is going all in on #biometrics: Weixin Palm Payment allows Weixin users to pay on the subway by swiping hovering their hands over a sensor. Infrared cameras then analyze the individual palm prints and unique patterns of veins under the skin, allowing each user to be identified and payment to be processed within seconds (source: CNN).   -   Last year JP Morgan began piloting biometrics-based payments (palm and face identification for payments authentication in-store) with select retailers in the US.   -   Self-service ordering kiosks or payment terminals with biometrical functionalities are one of the main use cases gaining ground. In #China such options are available at selected supermarkets or McDonald’s locations. But why are biometric payments rising? -   In today’s rapidly evolving payments landscape competition has moved from the infrastructure to the front-end. UX is the name of the game and biometrics enable better customer experiences. -   The rise of mobile and contactless payments is driving demand for biometrics. -   Efficiency, which translates into cost benefits. Especially, when it comes to use cases such as self-service kiosks, biometrics are a reliable, 24/7 alternative that saves costs. -   Biometrics are significantly simplifying and enhancing loyalty programs by offering a faster and easier identification and check-out process (Face ID instead of the manual process of pulling out a card and identifying myself). -   Biological characteristics are much more difficult to replicate or steal and therefore offer enhanced security, which translates into reduced frauds. The numbers are indicative: -   Goode Intelligence forecasts that global biometric payments will reach $5.8 trillion and 3 billion users by 2026. -   Juniper Research expects biometrics "will authenticate over $3 trillion of payment transactions in 2025," compared to $404 billion in  2020. If biometric payments can, in the short term, address issues such as privacy & security, #technology, regulation, accessibility, trust & social acceptance, then their longer-term future looks bright. Opinions: Panagiotis Kriaris

The RBI saw this coming 👀 In 2025, the Reserve Bank of India issued its Authentication Mechanisms for Digital Payment Transactions Directions, explicitly encouraging the shift from SMS OTPs toward biometric and risk-based authentication. Flipkart, Axis Bank & PayU aligned with that directive in the most concrete way possible. Their new biometric card payment feature enables Axis Bank cardholders to approve transactions via fingerprint or Face ID, with zero OTPs required. Device-bound, fraud-resistant, and fully aligned with India's evolving regulatory framework. This is what proactive compliance genuinely looks like. Flipkart brought its checkout scale, PayU built the merchant-side infrastructure, and Axis Bank connected its cardholder base through Wibmo's issuer verification. That kind of cross-ecosystem alignment takes real intent and deep partnership. For Flipkart, this also signals something important: innovation and regulatory rigour can live comfortably in the same product. That combination builds lasting trust with consumers, and that trust compounds over time. The standard has been set. 🇮🇳 #RBI #DigitalPayments #Fintech #Flipkart #AxisBank #PayU #DigitalIndia https://lnkd.in/gnAd-RCN

Are One-Time Passwords (OTPs) losing their edge? New avenues like passkeys and biometric authentication are going mainstream in the digital payments industry — with an expectation of a 2-3% point jump in transaction success rates, Pratik Bhakta and Ajay Rag report for The Economic Times (ET). While OTPs have been prone to delivery issues and transaction failures, these new authentication options, being tied to the connected device, lead to higher success rates, the report explains. “We expect biometric-based payment authentication to improve transaction rates,” says Girish Krishnan, payments rewards and merchant services at Amazon Pay. Biometrics authentication also solves the wrong Personal Identification Number (PIN) dilemma for users when using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), he adds. Technical decline — wrong PIN or backend issues — is the second common reason for UPI transaction failures, data from the National Payments Corporation of India suggests. “The impact (of this move) will likely be most pronounced in card transactions, where a chunk of failures is because of friction points, which biometrics can effectively address,” says Mobikwik’s CEO Bipin Preet Singh. Companies like Visa are amplifying authentication with passkey as the second factor after biometrics. “This reduces dependency on telecom networks and renders phishing or credential replay attacks virtually impossible,” says Ramakrishnan Gopalan, head of products, India & South Asia, Visa. Passkeys also help reduce digital payments processing costs, he adds. Another benefit? Fraud prevention, industry experts share with ET. “With device tokenisation, which is already in place, it’s a much better user experience and also more secure, since an OTP can be shared but this can’t,” Cashfree’s Reeju Datta says. ➡️ How will new authentication methods impact India's digital payments landscape? Share your take in the comments section. Source: The Economic Times: https://lnkd.in/g5dF7hcF ✍: Dipal Desai 📸: Getty Images #digitalpayment

We trust Face ID to unlock our phones. We trust it for banking apps. We trust it to access passwords, emails, even private photos. But when it comes to payments… we suddenly don’t trust it? We still type a 6-digit PIN. Slowly. Carefully. Sometimes twice. Doesn’t make sense. This is exactly what I found interesting about what BHIM Payments App just launched. You can now make UPI payments using biometric authentication Face ID or fingerprint. No PIN needed for everyday transactions. And before you think this is some shortcut that compromises safety, it’s actually the opposite. The biometric authentication stays on your device. Nothing gets stored or shared outside. And for higher value payments(over Rs. 5,000), PIN is still there as a fallback. So you’re not losing control. You’re just removing unnecessary friction. If you think about it, most payment failures today don’t happen because of lack of funds. They happen because: Wrong PIN Slow typing Switching between apps People just dropping off midway We’ve all been there. Biometrics fix that behaviour. It feels natural. The same way you unlock your phone, you complete a payment. No extra thinking. No extra steps. And that’s how real adoption happens in India. Not by adding more features. But by making things so simple that even a first-time user doesn’t have to think. UPI changed how India pays. This feels like the next layer of that evolution. NPCI BHIM

Digital payment frauds are perhaps the single biggest crime in the country today. In FY 2024 alone, Indians have lost ₹1,400 crore to digital payment fraud - a five-fold surge in just one year!! Scammers are evolving beyond simple OTP phishing into sophisticated high-value deep fakes and synthetic identity theft that traditional security can’t catch. SIM-swap attacks. OTP interception. Phishing for authentication codes. These are systemic vulnerabilities baked into SMS-based authentication, and for years the industry response was simply more OTP retries. To secure India's digital future, we must shift from reactive alerts to proactive biometrics and AI-driven behaviour monitoring that verify the person, not just the password. It’s great that Flipkart, Axis Bank & PayU have taken a fundamentally different approach. Their new biometric authentication replaces the SMS OTP entirely with fingerprint or Face ID, bound to the user's device rather than their phone number. The article says PayU manages merchant-side security and authentication flows, while Axis Bank uses Wibmo for issuer-level biometric verification. Two protection layers working in tandem. What stands out most is that they chose to lead here rather than wait. Bringing this to one of India's largest checkout experiences means the impact reaches millions of consumers immediately, rather than sitting as a niche feature for a small audience. Addressing the root cause and building security that consumers actually enjoy using that combination is rare and worth celebrating. #CyberSecurity #DigitalPaymentsFraud #FraudPrevention | Sunainaa Chadha | Business Standard | https://lnkd.in/gvY6p46m

🇦🇪 UAE Sets a New Global Benchmark in Payments & Open Finance The Central Bank of The UAE (CBUAE) has unveiled the region's first biometric payment solution — a proof of concept enabling in-person transactions via facial and palm recognition, entirely without cards, wallets, or mobile devices. Currently piloted at the Dubai Land Department under the CBUAE Sandbox Programme, in partnership with Network International and powered by PopID, this isn't just another payment innovation. It's a strategic piece of the UAE's digital finance infrastructure. Why This Matters: 1. Authentication Without Friction Biometric payments eliminate dependency on physical tokens (cards, devices) and knowledge-based credentials (PINs, passwords). The result: stronger security posture, reduced fraud vectors, and a more inclusive payment ecosystem for underbanked populations. 2. Foundation for Open Finance Interoperability The UAE is architecting a consolidated Open Finance framework with a centralized API hub that enables consent-based data sharing and payment initiation across banking, insurance, and adjacent financial services. Biometric authentication becomes a native identity layer in this stack — linking customer consent, data portability, and real-time authorization at the infrastructure level. 3. Enabling Next-Gen Financial Products When identity verification, payment authorization, and consent management are embedded into the authentication layer itself, you unlock: embedded finance experiences, real-time personalized offers, seamless account aggregation, cross-institutional loyalty and rewards programs, and programmable payment flows tied to smart contracts or IoT triggers. 4. Regulatory-First Innovation Model What distinguishes the UAE's approach is the tight integration between regulatory sandboxes, fintech collaboration frameworks, and national infrastructure projects (RTGS modernization, instant payments rails, Open Finance APIs). This isn't fragmented experimentation — it's coordinated ecosystem building with central bank oversight. The Bigger Picture: The UAE is constructing a financial infrastructure where identity, consent, and data are programmable primitives — not afterthoughts. Biometric payments are an interface layer to a deeper architecture: one where customers control data flows, institutions compete on experience rather than lock-in, and regulators maintain systemic oversight without stifling innovation. This positions the UAE not just as a regional leader, but as a reference architecture for how Open Finance, digital identity, and payment innovation converge in regulated environments. 📄 Full details: https://lnkd.in/gTsFH33J Payment Labs #OpenFinance #Fintech #UAE #DigitalIdentity #Payments #EmbeddedFinance #Regulatory #Stablecoins

#FinTech | #Payments : #UPI 's Next Frontier - Payments via #Biometrics & Internet of Things Rails. Smart devices are poised to become the next bastion for UPI, with the National Payments Corporation Of India (NPCI) building the Internet of Things (IoT) rails to support a staggering 10x growth. Let’s unpack what this means for the future of payments in India. The integration of IoT with UPI is a game-changer. Imagine your smart appliances, wearables, and even connected cars initiating payments autonomously—think parking fees paid directly from your car, metro tickets via a wearable, or subscription renewals without opening a banking app. This upgrade, powered by UPI Circle and AutoPay, delegates payments to devices linked to a user’s primary account, enhancing convenience and efficiency. A senior industry executive hinted at the nuance involved, noting that while the technology is promising, all UPI transactions must still be executed through a mobile phone for now—though future updates may allow devices to process payments independently. Biometrics is another frontier set to transform UPI. With PIN theft and fraud concerns rising (over 80% of digital transactions in India now rely on UPI), NPCI is exploring facial recognition and fingerprint authentication as alternatives to the traditional PIN. This move, still in the work-in-progress (WIP) stage, aims to enhance security and convenience, potentially rolling out after a demo at the 2025 Global Fintech Fest—pending Reserve Bank of India approvals. The idea of using biometrics stored in a user’s device or encrypted in a common library could make transactions smoother while safeguarding against #fraud. NPCI’s 2025 innovation roadmap includes features like UPI Lite X for offline payments and credit line integration, already rolled out in 2023. The expansion into IoT and biometrics comes as UPI clocked 18.4 billion transactions in June, with a public target of growing UPI’s share to 83.4% of payment volumes by FY25 (up from 79.4% in FY24). This aligns with India’s ambition to lead the global fintech narrative, as highlighted by NPCI’s leadership. What are your thoughts on this IoT and biometric evolution for UPI? Will it redefine how we interact with smart devices daily, or do you see challenges in security and adoption? EmpowerEdge Ventures

For years, the UPI payment journey in India has been a story of removing friction, right from payments being done in a few seconds to being made into a habit of daily use. What if the next wave of UPI revolution is friction-less? Yes, what if payment was as easy as unlocking your phone? Read on👇 That’s exactly why BHIM Biometric Payments is unlocking for all of us. Visualize this scene for a moment: You’re at a neighbourhood store. Your hands are loaded with say, a cup of tea, a few bags, and maybe a phone and with a queue behind you. And all you want is for the payment to go through instantly. What would you prefer? Option1: Open the app -> Enter amount -> Enter PIN -> Pay OR, Option 2: Authenticate -> Pay With BHIM Biometric Payments, users can authorize eligible UPI transactions using Fingerprint or Face ID, instead of entering a UPI PIN each time. For payments up to ₹5,000, this creates a much faster and more intuitive flow. For higher-value transactions, the PIN remains available as a fallback. And importantly, the biometric authentication is processed on the user’s device, which is critical for trust and security. What I find most interesting is that this is not just a feature update. It reflects a larger shift in digital payments as authentication is evolving from something we remember to something we are already accustomed to using. That matters because the future of payments will be WON on three things: ▶️ Speed with fewer steps and faster completion ▶️ Trust as users need to feel secure and not confused ▶️ Habit is the best payment experience is the one that disappears into the moment BHIM Biometric Payments sits right at that intersection. For users, it means: ▶️ less friction on everyday transactions ▶️ a payment flow that feels familiar ▶️ an additional layer of convenience without removing control For the ecosystem, it signals something bigger as India’s digital payments infrastructure is still innovating on the last mile of user experience. BHIM has long represented accessibility and trust in India’s digital payment journey and ‘Biometric Payments’ feel like the next natural step.   Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal in nature. Image credit: Google and allied partner websites. National Payments Corporation Of India (NPCI) - NPCI BHIM ------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Devan Bhalla for your brand x business content. (Hit the🔔icon on my profile for the latest updates) #BHIM #NPCI #UPI #Fintech #partnership #DBytes

I still remember the first time an OTP failed right when a client was trying to pay us. Panic, refresh, repeat. We got the money, but it shouldn’t feel that fragile. From April 1, 2026, the #RBI is moving the entire system forward: two-factor authentication will be mandatory for all digital payments, and it doesn’t have to be OTP alone. Biometrics, device tokens, passphrases, and risk-based checks are now part of the toolbox. Cross-border card-not-present payments also undergo tighter validation when the overseas merchant requests it. For those running payments operations, the time for preparation is now. You should not wait to pilot biometric or device-token authentication flows. Crucially, you must establish a risk-based step-up authentication map: low-risk transactions should be processed quickly for a better customer experience, while high-risk transactions must immediately trigger an extra security check. Get firm commitments from your PSPs and issuers, confirming their April 2026 readiness and locking in testing windows. Finally, be ready for customer impact. Train your support teams thoroughly, as new authentication methods will inevitably lead to new and specific customer inquiries. Safer payments, fewer OTP failures, and more flexibility. That’s a good trade. If you’re already testing alternatives to OTP, what’s working best: device tokens, biometrics, or passphrases?