Airtel Payments Bank announced its collaboration with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to introduce face authentication for the Aadhaar-enabled Payment System (AePS) at its 5 lakh banking points. This new service makes Airtel Payments Bank one of the first four banks to offer face authentication for AePS.
The AePS system enables customers to perform financial and non-financial transactions at any banking point using their Aadhaar number or virtual ID to access their Aadhaar-linked bank account. The previous method of transaction authentication used the customer’s Aadhaar number and fingerprint or iris match in the UIDAI records. The new feature will allow customers to validate transactions by using face authentication and the Aadhaar number.
Airtel Payments Bank COO Ganesh Ananthanarayanan expressed his delight at collaborating with NPCI to offer this new facility to customers. The COO believes that adding face authentication is critical to the secure and straightforward banking solutions offered by Airtel Payments Bank, driving financial and digital inclusion in the country.
Initially, Airtel Payments Bank plans to provide a face authentication facility for non-financial transactions such as balance inquiries and mini-statements. Per guidance from NPCI, the Bank will later enable the feature for other bank customers and the Bank’s customers at other banking outlets. Praveena Rai, NPCI’s Chief Operating Officer, praised the implementation of this feature for AePS transactions by Airtel Payment Bank, which would expand the reach of Aadhaar-based transactions across India.
