Indian government building biometric mobile payments app
The Indian government is developing a mobile app to be used by shopkeepers and merchants to receive payments authenticated by Aadhaar, its national identification system, that bypasses the usual authentication for credit and debit cards. The app aims to transform mobile devices into biometric data readers to enable payments. The Unique Identification Authority of India plans to increase the number of authentications made biometrically through Aadhaar from 100m to 400m per day.
The Government of India is working on a mobile app that can be used by shopkeepers and merchants for receiving Aadhaar-authenticated payments, “bypassing credit and debit cards, PIN and password”, Business Standard reports. “Through this mobile application, the handset will be used for authenticating biometrics of customers making Aadhaar-enabled payment,” the publication says. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is also planning to increase the number of biometric authentications made through Aadhaar to 40 crore (400m) a day from 10 crore (100m) to “encourage more use of the platform”.

Next: Visit the NFCW Expo to find new suppliers and solutions