Mastercard Launches Payment Passkey Service in India to Enhance Secure Online Checkout
Mastercard has chosen India as the launchpad for its new Payment Passkey Service, aimed at accelerating secure online checkout for millions of shoppers. The service is being piloted in collaboration with some of India’s largest payment players, including aggregators like Juspay, Razorpay, and PayU, along with online merchants such as Bigbasket and prominent banks like Axis Bank.
The Payment Passkey Service is Mastercard’s response to the rising levels of fraud associated with one-time passwords (OTP), which have become increasingly vulnerable to phishing, SIM swapping, and message interception. According to the Reserve Bank of India’s 2023-2024 Annual Report, fraud cases have surged by nearly 300% in the country over the past two years.
To combat these threats, Mastercard’s Payment Passkey leverages device-based biometric authentication methods, such as fingerprint or facial recognition, combined with tokenization to secure online transactions. This approach ensures that no financial account data is shared with third parties, rendering it useless to fraudsters and significantly enhancing the security of online payments.
Jorn Lambert, Chief Product Officer at Mastercard, emphasized the company’s commitment to advancing secure online checkout and creating a tokenized future. “By introducing the Mastercard Payment Passkey Service in India, we’re advancing secure online checkout and our vision for a token economy,” Lambert said. “Through innovative technology that enhances security and convenience, we’re creating a more transparent commerce ecosystem for all.”
The initial success of this pilot in India will pave the way for the global rollout of the Mastercard Payment Passkey Service, expanding its reach to more consumers and financial institutions worldwide in the coming months.
