Soon, you may not require OTP to authenticate financial transactions on smartphones

26-12-2020

Telecom companies in India will soon verify user identities with just their mobile numbers, relieving consumers of password fatigue when transacting via smartphones. Reliance Jio Infocomm, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are also hoping to use this to counter fraud that occurs through so-called SIM mirroring to breach bank accounts and other secure digital enclaves, the Economic Times mentioned in a report. At present customers have to provide their mobile numbers to an app or site to do a financial transaction and wait for a four-to-six digit onetime password (OTP) to come on their smartphone. After feeding in the unique number the transaction gets completed. But in case of a delay in getting the OTP, the transaction gets timed out, forcing customers to toggle between sites. In some cases, the transaction could even get stalled, with money going out of the account. �It is leading to password fatigue across age groups. We are working on this kind of mobile identity, which will ensure secure transactions in one shot,� said a senior executive at one of the operators told the business daily. According to telecom executives, depending on regulatory clearances, this feature which is getting piloted currently, should be available to all by the first half of 2021. Companies like Route Mobile provide the technology and act as the liaison between enterprises and operators in the area, known as Mobile Identity. �Route Mobile will offer these services to enterprises directly. On the one hand, we build the identity layer by liaising with operators. On the other hand, we offer a unified API (application programming interface) that brands can leverage to enable Mobile Identity services for authenticating users,� the publication quoted Rajdipkumar Gupta, managing director at Route Mobile as saying. �So the enterprises will have to pay vendors like us to avail this service and we pay operators.� The API is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other. According to the telecom executive cited earlier, there won�t be any reduction in security measures. �Earlier, one had two-step security process � punch in the mobile number and wait for the OTP. Now, the same two-step process is used � your mobile number and then the verification,� said the executive. Faisal Kawoosa, founder of techARC told the business daily that this will curb SIM mirroring, which is on the increase. �Financial transactions should be allowed on this too, and although customers may initially hesitate to opt for this, they will soon get used to no OTP,� he said. Enterprises will likely offer this as an option to customers, since some may prefer the password/OTP method.