- Enables instant, device-based authentication using fingerprint or face recognition, removing OTP dependencies
- Cuts OTP-related failures by 35%, driving up to 95% transaction success
INDIA, Bengaluru – 31st March 2026: Razorpay, India’s omnichannel payments platform for businesses, today introduced its RBI-compliant Biometric Authentication solution, ‘Passkey’, in partnership with Mastercard and soon with Visa. Built on device-bound secure biometrics and payment passkey protocols, Razorpay now enables cardholders to authenticate online card transactions promptly using biometrics such as fingerprint or facial recognition, eliminating dependence on OTPs and delivering a secure, faster, and reliable checkout experience.
Authentication is the foundation of trust in digital payments. Traditionally, this has relied largely on OTP-based verification. However, OTP authentication often introduces friction, delays, and failures at checkout. In India, nearly 35% of payment failures stem from authentication challenges such as delayed OTPs, incorrect entry, or redirection errors. Alongside this, digital payment fraud continues to pose a significant challenge, with over 13,500 internet fraud cases and losses exceeding ₹520 crore in FY25, according to RBI data.
With the Reserve Bank of India mandating stronger two-factor authentication, which explicitly recognises biometric and device-bound factors, the ecosystem is moving away from OTP-dependent flows toward more secure, real-time authentication methods.
Razorpay’s biometric authentication solution is built for this new paradigm. Powered by device-bound secure biometrics and passkey protocols supported by Mastercard and Visa, authentication happens directly on the user’s device using fingerprint or facial recognition, removing reliance on OTP delivery, manual input, or redirects, while ensuring a seamless and reliable payment experience.
By eliminating OTP-related friction, the solution aims to make digital payments:
- Secure and seamless for customers
Customers authenticate card payments using fingerprint or facial recognition or other device-native unlock methods on their own devices, removing the need for OTPs or manual input. Authentication becomes prompt and memory-free, bringing card payments closer to the reliability of 1-click experiences. - Growth-focused and reliable for merchants
By removing OTP-related friction, merchants see materially higher authorisation success. Razorpay’s biometric authentication delivers up to 95% transaction success rates, while reducing OTP-led authentication errors by 35%, lowering checkout abandonment, and protecting revenue at the moment of intent. - Compliant and future-ready for the ecosystem
The solution is fully aligned with the Reserve Bank of India’s two-factor authentication framework, incorporating biometric and device-native authentication methods alongside dynamic factors. Device-bound secure biometrics ensures sensitive card data is never shared, strengthening fraud prevention and enabling secure, scalable deployment across lakhs of businesses.
Khilan Haria, Chief Product Officer, Razorpay, said, “Authentication should not slow down commerce; it should enable it. With biometric authentication powered by passkeys and built in partnership with Mastercard and Visa, we are eliminating one of the biggest friction points in digital payments. This solution not only strengthens security and ensures full RBI compliance but also unlocks higher success rates and better customer experiences for businesses. Our goal is to make authentication instant, invisible, and built for the next decade of AI-driven and mobile-first commerce.”
Ramakrishnan Gopalan, Head of Product, India & South Asia, Visa, said, “As digital commerce scales in India, authentication must be both stronger and simpler. Visa Payment Passkey is designed to move the ecosystem beyond OTP dependent flows by enabling secure, device-bound, biometric authentication that is fast, seamless, and fully aligned with RBI’s two-factor authentication framework. Our partnership with Razorpay reflects Visa’s commitment to advancing trusted, inclusive, friction-free payments that improve success rates for merchants while giving consumers greater confidence and control at checkouts.”
Ravi Datla, Senior Vice President, Customer Solutions, South Asia, Mastercard, said, “At Mastercard, we believe that the future of digital payments lies in authentication that is not only secure, but effortless for consumers and businesses alike. As the first payments network to introduce passkey-based authentication in India, we are glad to collaborate with Razorpay to help move the ecosystem beyond OTP dependency. Biometric, device-bound authentication marks a critical shift—one that strengthens trust, enhances security, and reflects the direction set by India’s regulator. Together, we are enabling a safer, more reliable digital payments experience that works at the speed and scale of the country’s growing digital economy.”
Unlike OTP-based authentication, payment passkeys keep card details tokenized and inaccessible to merchants or third parties, rendering stolen data unusable for fraud. Customers can authenticate and complete high-value transactions using a fingerprint or face scan, with no redirects or interruptions to the purchase journey. The result is a more secure and seamless payment experience, driving higher transaction success and improved customer outcomes at scale.
As biometric authentication and payment passkeys move into large-scale adoption, Razorpay is shaping the next phase of digital commerce in India, where payments are more secure, more reliable, and designed to work invisibly at the speed of intent.
