New Delhi: India’s commercial banks are looking to use iris scans for authenticating transactions, mainly to assist senior citizen customers, said people aware of the matter.
The banks are in talks with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) among stakeholders, for using iris scans as ageing has been found to distort fingerprints or thumb impressions, making them less reliable for authentication, the people said.
“The issue was deliberated in a meeting last month, and it was decided to reach out to the RBI for further discussions about the implementation and challenges,” said a bank executive requesting anonymity. He added that an internal committee of banks headed by A. Manimekhalai, managing director, Union Bank of India, had made some initial observations that are currently being deliberated. “There are implementation issues and cyber security challenges, but with already such authentication available through the Aadhaar platform, further linkages can be explored,” the executive said.
RBI didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.
A second banker said lenders are discussing implementation challenges and that options such as re-enrolment can be explored for senior citizens undergoing eye surgery such as cataract operation. “All these challenges are there, but we are exploring multiple options,” he said.
A study by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur in 2019 pointed out that cataract surgery affects the discriminative nature of iris texture pattern. “This finding raises concerns about the reliability of iris-based biometric recognition systems in the context of subjects undergoing cataract surgery,” according to the study.
Last year, State Bank of India, the country’s top lender, said it was examining options for installing iris scanners at its customer service points (CSPs) through ‘Bank Mitra’ channels to address challenges faced by senior pensioners and customers. This followed an incident whereby a 70-year-old pensioner woman was forced to return empty-handed as her thumb impressions didn’t match with the bank’s records. SBI later noted in this case, the pension amount was immediately paid by debiting the amount manually.
At present, under Aadhaar Enabled Payment Systems, or AEPS, online interoperable financial transactions at PoS (point of sale or micro ATMs) can be done using Aadhaar authentication, which includes both fingerprints and iris scans.
Latest analysis of the government’s Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) showed AePS frauds comprised 11% of cyber financial scams in 2023.
