Mastercard Selects India for Global Launch of Payment Passkey Service

Mastercard has selected India as the launch market for its Payment Passkey Service, a biometric authentication system that replaces passwords and one-time passcodes with fingerprint or facial recognition for online payments.

The service allows consumers to authenticate online purchases using the biometric capabilities built into their smartphones or laptops, eliminating the need to remember passwords or wait for SMS verification codes. When a shopper reaches checkout, the Payment Passkey Service prompts them to verify their identity using their device's fingerprint reader or facial recognition system.

India's selection as the global launch market reflects its position as one of the world's most active digital payments ecosystems, with hundreds of millions of consumers regularly making online purchases. The country's high smartphone penetration and familiarity with digital payment methods make it an ideal testing ground for biometric checkout technology.

The system uses the FIDO authentication standard, an industry framework for passwordless security that stores biometric credentials locally on the user's device rather than on external servers. This approach enhances security by ensuring that biometric data never leaves the consumer's device and cannot be intercepted during the payment process.

Mastercard said the Payment Passkey Service is designed to reduce both checkout friction and fraud simultaneously. Passwords and one-time passcodes are vulnerable to phishing and social engineering attacks, while biometric authentication is significantly harder to compromise.

The India launch is the first step in a global rollout that will subsequently reach the Middle East, Latin America, and other markets.