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Indian users can soon ditch the UPI PIN for payments and switch to Face ID or fingerprint authentication to pay money using the mobile apps. The change was officially announced by the NPCI on Tuesday at an event, where other UPI-centric features and services were showcased.
But moving UPI payments out of the PIN ecosystem means the chances of UPI scams reduce dramatically but using the payment app becomes easier and a lot more safer because of these changes.
UPI payments have become ubiquitous across the country and even available outside of India in select markets these days. But the risk of UPI scams have made it critical that the payment system gets further solidified.
UPI Payments With Biometric Feature On Phone: How It Will Work
Most smartphones come with support for facial and biometric security via fingerprint and UPI is tapping into these features to authorise payments securely. These will be powered through apps like Paytm, Google Pay and more in the coming days, allowing you to use the on-device security rather than risk using the four or six-digit UPI PIN for payment.
NPCI says the change was warranted because the security risks of using UPI PIN and SMS OTPs are high on the agenda and removing their support (albeit optionally) gives people more options to use without forcing something on them mandatorily.
The biometric part of the UPI payment will be linked to the Aadhaar biometric database which is already set up with most banks in the country. In fact, your KYC is done using Aadhaar which requires further authentication via biometrics (fingers and face mostly). Those who are not using Aadhaar-linked bank accounts can continue using PIN for payments.
We’re eager to see how the system is integrated into the UPI apps for payment processing. However, using these security features (built into the device) allows you to make payments faster and safely.
NPCI has also removed payment request feature in UPI apps from this month in the country which makes it safer and prevents major online scams from draining money in your account.
