Navi UPI launches biometric payments, simplified onboarding at Global Fintech Festival 2025

Navi UPI on Tuesday introduced two new features—biometric authentication for payments and a simplified onboarding process—at the Global Fintech Festival 2025, in a move it says will make digital transactions more seamless and secure.

With the launch, Navi becomes the first UPI app in India to enable biometric-based payments at scale, allowing users to approve transactions through fingerprint or facial recognition instead of entering a UPI PIN.

While biometric verification has been available in limited pilots on UPI platforms before, Navi’s rollout marks the first at-scale deployment integrated directly into an app’s payment flow. The feature is being introduced in phases across Android and iOS devices.

"Security and simplicity have always been the key pillars of our product philosophy," said Rajiv Naresh, Managing Director and CEO of Navi Limited (formerly Navi Technologies). "With these new rollouts, we’re setting a new benchmark for trust and convenience in digital payments."

Alongside the biometric feature, Navi has also streamlined UPI onboarding, reducing the steps required to create a UPI ID and link bank accounts. The app now allows users to begin transacting within minutes using auto-verification, a step the company claims will reduce user drop-offs during registration.

Navi’s move comes at a time when India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) continues to dominate the digital payments landscape, processing over 14 billion transactions a month. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which oversees UPI, has been encouraging innovation around safety and ease of use to expand adoption in smaller towns and among new users.Read about our editorial guidelines and ethics policy