OSLO, NORWAY: IDEX Biometrics ASA is bringing biometric payment cards to the Indian market, in partnership with technology provider M-Tech Innovations Ltd. The biometric payment cards are expected to reach the market in 2023.

This partnership will provide banks and other smart card issuers with biometric card solutions for the Indian market, a front runner in biometric authentication. India is one of the world’s fastest growing payment card markets with close to 1 billion cards issued annually, and with 5 million acceptance locations.

M-Tech is certified by RuPay, Visa and Mastercard, offering high tech end-to-end smart card solutions for financial payments, access control, and government identification. The biometric solution is based on IDEX Biometrics TrustedBio sensor module, powered by SLC38 from Infineon Technologies. The companies will co-develop innovative solutions for fingerprint registration, tailored to the Indian market.

Catharina Eklof, Chief Commercial Officer of IDEX Biometrics, says, “The Indian market represents a very large opportunity for biometric payment cards. Consumers in India are used to biometric authentication via the Aadhaar biometric program. The fingerprint solution from IDEX Biometrics uses encrypted biometric technology which never leaves the card, ensuring speed and reduced risk of hacking. We are delighted that millions of customers will be able to benefit from secure and seamless payments through the IDEX Biometrics collaboration with M-Tech.”

“The booming smart card market in India represents an excellent opportunity for the biometric card solution from IDEX Biometrics”, says VM Gandhi, Chairman of M-Tech. “We see a strong and increasing demand for biometric smart cards. Adapting the onboarding and registration processes to the Indian market will be critical, and we are confident in IDEX Biometrics technology leadership and innovation power to accelerate market adoption for the benefit of consumers across India.”