Indian consumers prefer biometrics to PINs or passwords to authenticate payments, a new report by Visa suggests.
According to the report, 99% of those surveyed said they would like to use at least one biometric form of authentication (fingerprint, voice recognition, eye scan, etc.) to make payments.
The reason for this overwhelming support in favor of biometrics is that 48% of respondents believe it to be more secure than a password or PIN, while 81% believe that biometrics is the quicker option. An additional 84% believe it is easier than using than passwords.
Read the full analysis here.
Indeed, this consumer attitude in India is indicative of the overall direction the country wants to take when it comes to digitalizing payments.
The Indian government has been vocal about shifting the country in a cashless direction.
In fact, Amitabh Kant, the head of a government-run policy institute, has said that biometrics is likely to replace cards by as much as 85% by 2020. Check out his keynote at NDTV-Mastercard’s Cashless Bano Campaign (which means to become cashless) launch here.
With a billion biometrics, the country has already been making strides to promote digitalization of the economy, whether through government backed initiatives or companies like Google through payment apps like Bhim and various other fintech companies.
Just last week, fintech company Nearby Technologies partnered with one of India’s largest private sector banks, YES Bank, to launch a cardless and PIN-less Aadhaar ATM service.
Aadhaar is a unique 12-digit identification number based on biometrics given to each Indian resident.
Learn more about mobile payments and Biometrics at Bank Innovation 2018 in San Francisco on March 5-6. Request your invitation here.