Airtel Payments Bank and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) have joined forces to introduce a new face authentication feature for Aadhaar-enabled Payment System (AePS) transactions. Previously, Aadhaar number, iris or fingerprint match in UIDAI records were used to authenticate transactions. However, the new feature allows users to validate transactions using face authentication in addition to their Aadhaar number. This move is aimed at promoting digital and financial inclusion in India.
The new Face Authentication for AePS feature is the result of collaboration between Airtel Payments Bank (APB) and NPCI. APB is the first of four banks to offer this feature. NPCI’s AePS customers can perform financial and non-financial transactions at any banking point. These banking points can be used to access Aadhaar-linked bank accounts using Aadhaar number or virtual ID.
The authentication process is facilitated by the Face Authentication RD Application developed by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
