Google Pay Adds Biometric Authentication for Indian Mastercard Payments

Mastercard and Google Pay have partnered to introduce biometric authentication for Mastercard payments in India. The new feature allows users to authenticate eligible card payments using a fingerprint or face scan on their smartphones.

The optional biometric authentication feature will be available through participating issuing banks to customers with an eligible Mastercard saved in Google Pay. It is intended for utility bills, mobile recharges, and eligible online merchant checkouts.

Mastercard says the feature will use its Consumer Device Cardholder Verification Method (CDCVM) to verify users on their devices and reduce dependence on one-time SMS passwords. This is separate from tokenization, which protects card details used in a transaction.

The planned rollout follows a change in India's digital payment rules that gives banks and payment companies flexibility in how they authenticate users. Mastercard has previously piloted fingerprint and face-based biometric for online card payments in India through its Payment Passkey Service.