Flipkart in collaboration with Axis Bank and PayU, announced the launch of biometric authentication for card payments. Three trusted organizations have joined forces for this initiative, building on their shared history of a consumer first approach, and reinstating their collective commitment to the consumers of India.
The initiative allows users to authenticate transactions using their fingerprint or Face ID on supporting Android and iOS devices, eliminating the need for a one-time password (OTP). The service is enabled first for Axis Bank cardholders through issuer‑level biometric verification. With this launch, Flipkart has become one of the leading major Indian e-commerce platforms to offer biometric authentication for card payments.
The feature offers customers a more secure method of authentication backed by device fingerprinting and enhanced checks, reducing the risk of SIM‑swap or OTP‑based fraud. It addresses significant friction points in digital payments replacing SMS-based OTPs, with a faster and more secured mechanism already familiar to smartphone users. Under this collaboration, PayU manages the merchant-side infrastructure, including device security and authentication flows while Axis Bank leverages Wibmo (a PayU company) to power biometric verification on the issuer side.
Biometric authentication addresses India’s alarming digital payment fraud landscape, where fraud values surged more than fivefold to exceed ₹1,400 crore in FY 2024, according to . In response, the Reserve Bank of India issued the ‘Authentication Mechanisms for Digital Payment Transactions Directions, 2025’ circular, explicitly encouraging adoption of biometric and risk-based authentication over SMS OTPs. Strategically aligned with this regulatory vision, the Flipkart-PayU-Axis Bank partnership enhances security, improves transaction success rates, and creates a more resilient payment ecosystem while fulfilling RBI’s mandate for stronger digital authentication mechanisms.
