Visa has launched Payment Passkey in India, which lets cardholders approve online card payments with their phone’s fingerprint, face unlock, PIN or pattern, reducing reliance on one-time passwords.
IDFC FIRST Bank is the first banking partner, Visa said on July 2, 2026. OTPs have not gone away: Visa describes the passkey as an alternative, and it is available at selected merchants for now. Details are based on Visa and Business Today.
Visa Payment Passkey at a glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| How it works | One-time setup, then approve with your device's unlock method |
| Standard | FIDO, combined with tokenisation |
| First bank | IDFC FIRST Bank |
| Merchants | Myntra, Paytm, MakeMyTrip, Tata Starbucks, Reliance Digital, EatSure |
| Payment partners | Juspay, Razorpay, PayU, Pine Labs, BillDesk and others |
| Regulator link | RBI's September 2025 alternative authentication framework |
Why this is happening now
The RBI’s framework on alternative authentication, issued in September 2025, opened the door to methods beyond SMS OTPs. Visa says it expects higher payment success rates and fewer checkout steps.
Suresh Sethi, Visa’s Group Country Manager for India and South Asia, said that combined with tokenisation, the solution “adds an important layer of protection, reduces friction and strengthens trust at every checkout.” Visa has not said how many users or banks will have it, or when others will join.
Payment scams are a regular subject here, including digital arrest fraud and the 10.85 lakh spam complaints TRAI logged in a single quarter. A passkey is tied to your device, so a scammer cannot simply talk you out of a code. It does not stop every fraud, though, since you can still be tricked into approving a payment yourself.
Why it matters for mobile shops and users
A passkey is tied to the phone, so customers changing handsets should check how to set it up again on the new device. OTP scams remain a real problem, and fewer OTPs may help over time. For now, remind customers to keep using a screen lock, since that unlock method now approves payments too.
Correction (November 1, 2026): An earlier version mentioned 350 million users. We could not find a source for that figure.
