A senior official from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) stated that the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) may soon allow Aadhaar-based face authentication for high-value financial transactions. During a panel discussion at the Global Fintech Fest 2025, UIDAI Deputy Director General Abhishek Kumar Singh said that UIDAI is the infrastructure. “This is the only way to know for sure who is who. We have the world’s largest biometric database. We strongly advocate the use of face authentication in assessments.” Let us also share the information provided by UIDAI regarding this matter.
The Easiest and Fastest Way
UIDAI Deputy Director General Abhishek Kumar Singh stated that NPCI is already working on this idea and expects to announce it in the coming days. He urged other bankers to join such a system, saying that it is indeed the easiest and fastest way to authenticate someone. Noting that the authentication infrastructure and framework are device-specific, he stated that a special device is required to authenticate oneself, except for the OTP component if authentication is performed through a biometric process.
Authentication will be done through people’s mobile phones.
He explained that, according to a report published three months ago, there are over 640 million smartphones in India, while the total device ecosystem comprises approximately 4 million devices. He further stated that as soon as we talk about facial recognition, your smartphone becomes your device, and thus, the device ecosystem suddenly exceeds 640 million. He added that this kind of facility is available to anyone.
NPCI also made a major announcement
On the other hand, NPCI also made a significant announcement. According to the corporation, the UPI Lite facility can now be used to make payments through wearable smartglasses in India. Users need to scan the QR code and give a voice command. NPCI announced on Tuesday that this feature does not require a mobile phone or a PIN.
UPI Lite has been developed explicitly for small-value, recurring payments with minimal reliance on the mainstream banking system. NPCI released a video explaining that making payments with UPI Lite on smart glasses is as seamless as “See, Speak, and Pay.”
