Mastercard to pilot Payment Passkey Service in India
Paytech titan Mastercard is set to debut its new Payment Passkey Service in India with a pilot engaging some of the country’s “largest payment players”.
Mastercard launches new pilot scheme in India
The initiative will include online merchants like BigBasket, banks such as Axis Bank, and payment aggregators including Juspay, Razorpay and PayU.
With the aim of replacing one-time passwords (OTPs), the service utilises passkeys and tokenisation to facilitate secure online checkout interactions and ensure that no financial account data is shared with third parties.
During online transactions, shoppers can select their Mastercard or a securely stored card at checkout and confirm payment with biometric authentication – such as a face scan, fingerprint or PIN. Payments are processed instantly upon successful verification.
Mastercard says it chose India to launch its new service due to the country’s “rapidly expanding payment ecosystem and advanced tokenisation market”, which is “embracing payment passkeys and enhanced biometric authentication in line with the Reserve Bank of India’s goal for a safer, more resilient payment system”.
If the pilot in India proves successful, the paytech plans to expand its Payment Passkey Service to more consumers and financial institutions globally “over the coming months”.
This announcement follows the news that Mastercard intends to cut around 1,000 employees as part of “organisational changes”.
