NPCI BHIM Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India, launched biometric authentication for UPI transactions on the BHIM Payments App on March 24, 2026. The feature enables users to approve payments of up to Rs 5,000 using fingerprint or facial recognition stored on their device, bypassing the traditional six-digit UPI PIN. Transactions above Rs 5,000 continue to require PIN-based authentication.
The biometric option is available on both Android and iOS devices with compatible hardware. It supports standard UPI payment flows including person-to-person transfers, merchant QR code scanning, and online payments. Lalitha Nataraj, CEO of NPCI BHIM, said the platform was deploying biometric-based UPI payments to simplify digital transactions for users who find PIN entry inconvenient, while maintaining security through on-device storage of biometric credentials that never leave the handset.
The launch comes one week before the Reserve Bank of India's updated authentication framework takes effect on April 1, 2026. Under the new rules, all digital payments must be verified using at least two distinct factors, but the framework introduces risk-based flexibility that permits lower-friction authentication methods for small-value transactions. BHIM's biometric feature aligns with this approach by offering a second factor that is both convenient and secure for everyday payments.
BHIM holds a small share of India's UPI market, with PhonePe at 48.4 percent and Google Pay at 36.9 percent commanding the vast majority of transaction volume. However, as NPCI's own flagship application, BHIM's adoption of biometric authentication signals that the technology has been vetted by the UPI ecosystem's governing body. NPCI BHIM is also expanding its bank network, with Canara Bank recently integrated and two additional banks expected to join the platform later in 2026.
The introduction of biometric UPI authentication reflects NPCI's broader strategy to reduce payment failures caused by forgotten or incorrectly entered PINs, a persistent issue as UPI processes over 20 billion transactions monthly across nearly 700 participating banks. With the RBI's risk-based authentication mandate approaching on April 1, other UPI application providers are expected to explore similar frictionless verification methods in the months ahead.