No More OTPs? Visa’s New Secure Passkey Expands in India

Written By: Arpita Bhowmick

Arpita Bhowmick

I'm from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. Raised in Tatanagar, I carry the balanced spirit of the Steel City and greenery of the city with me- resilient, gritty,grounded, and committed to excellence yet calm and composed in times of tenacity. I value integrity, teamwork, and delivering results with honesty. Sacred Heart Convent School was the place where I built my foundation of discipline and curiosity and completed schooling. Then moved to Bhawanipur Education Society College, Kolkata, there I broadened my perspective and developed strong academic roots and also got first big exposure to a metro city & diverse cultural heritage. Currently I'm a student of ICFAI Business School, Mumbai , where I'm evolving my business acumen and leadership skills and working for your company Travel and tour world as a freelancer. I love to watch movies and travel, through them I collect stories, not just memories. They shape my personality by making me curious, creative, adaptive and more understanding of people. I'm always eager to learn, explore and contribute to organizations that prioritize people, purpose, and performance and keep learning and growing.

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July 3, 2026 3:50 AM

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A major milestone has been reached in the Indian fintech landscape. Visa has officially launched the Visa Payment Passkey in India. This development is set to change how online commerce is secured. It aims to reduce friction in digital payments while enhancing user safety. India continues to lead in real-time digital payments. This new passkey technology is a strategic leap toward a more secure, intuitive ecosystem.

Transitioning Beyond OTPs with Visa Passkey and FIDO

The market is shifting away from reliance on one-time passwords, or OTPs. Consumers are now empowered to authorize payments via their own devices. This method uses biometric verification and native device security protocols.

• Reliance on OTPs is decreasing.
• Transactions are secured via FIDO standards.
• Biometrics replace manual code entry.
• Authentication happens on the user’s device.

This initiative follows the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) September 2025 Framework. It encourages the adoption of alternative authentication mechanisms. By using FIDO standards, Visa ensures that security is both robust and user-friendly. Traditional verification hurdles are replaced by the speed of device-native unlock mechanisms.

Industry Insights: Building an Ecosystem of Trust

The rollout of this technology involves a massive collaborative effort. IDFC FIRST Bank has been named the inaugural banking partner. It is the first institution to enable this for its cardholders. Many other prominent fintech partners are also involved.

Key players supporting this transition include:

• Major Platforms: Myntra, Paytm, MakeMyTrip, Tata Starbucks, Reliance Digital, and EatSure.
• Technical Partners: Juspay, Wibmo, Razorpay, PayU, Pine Labs, BillDesk, and M2P Fintech.

This collaborative model ensures a seamless experience for consumers. It effectively sets a new standard for scalability in the Indian market.

The Impact on Travellers and Daily Consumers

The impact on the modern traveller will be profound. Digital platforms are used frequently for bookings and travel services. Previously, high-value transactions required multiple, clunky authentication screens.

With the Visa Payment Passkey, the process is simplified. A traveller now authenticates using:

• Fingerprint scans.
• Facial recognition.
• Personal device PINs.

This reduction in steps is expected to boost payment success rates. The process is now more fluid. It allows for faster checkouts even when users are on the move. Security measures are now perceived as a benefit rather than an obstacle.

Practical Information: How the Transition Works

The adoption of the Visa Payment Passkey is engineered to be a user-centric experience, designed for seamless integration and ease of use. The setup process is remarkably simple and only needs to be performed one time.

The integration process and security framework function as follows:

• Simplified Setup: The authentication mechanism is linked directly to the user’s device, requiring no repetitive configuration for future transactions.
• Broad Compatibility: The solution is designed to work across most major operating systems and web browsers, ensuring a consistent user experience.
• Global Accessibility: Millions of FIDO-enabled devices worldwide are already supported, ensuring the technology is scalable and accessible to a vast population.
• Strengthened Cybersecurity: The technology leverages tokenization to bolster security, ensuring that sensitive card details are replaced by a secure digital token.
• Enhanced Data Protection: By replacing actual card data with tokens, the system ensures that sensitive card information is not exposed during the transaction process.
• Multi-layered Security: This approach creates a multi-layered security environment where transactions are simplified for the user while remaining highly protected against unauthorized access.

Comparing Developments in Digital Payments

The implementation of the Visa Payment Passkey represents a definitive strategic evolution in how digital transactions are conducted in India. This shift addresses the inherent limitations of legacy authentication methods.

The transition away from traditional OTP protocols provides several key advantages:

• Reduction of External Dependencies: Traditional OTP methods relied heavily on cellular network stability, which frequently introduced delays or failures.
• Elimination of Hardware Bottlenecks: Previously, users were often dependent on secondary devices to receive codes, creating a friction-heavy process.
• Internalized Security Architecture: By shifting the burden of authentication directly to the user’s hardware, the process becomes significantly more self-contained.
• Streamlined User Experience: The removal of manual code entry effectively eliminates the most common friction points associated with older payment methods.
• Support for Emerging Commerce Models: This move toward biometric authentication is a critical step in supporting the next era of agentic commerce, where digital systems can act securely on a user’s behalf.
• Foundational Readiness: These innovations establish a necessary technical foundation for future intelligent systems to manage secure digital operations.
• Strategic National Objective: The entire digital payments landscape in India is being re-engineered to prioritize greater inclusivity, increased transaction speed, and long-term ecosystem resilience.