Alexa voice biometrics to be integrated in touchless purchases across India

According to one account, Amazon India is preparing to expand the ability to buy goods in that South Asian nation using Alexa for biometric voice authentication.

A report in the publication The Ken says Alexa-enabled purchases could become ubiquitous, including enabling people to speak into a device in a rail station to buy a ticket. The article states that such a system would be a first in the world.

This move would make a person’s voice, via Alexa, the authentication needed to make purchases on their credit accounts. The article indicates that the voice-assist service will support the unified payments interface (UPI) used by financial services firms.

Indians can already make voice payments with Alexa via an Amazon Pay wallet account.

Having Alexa available where, for instance, someone refuels their car would be helpful for people have problems with fine motor skills, and, not incidentally, cut down on the number of surfaces they have to touch throughout their day.

Indian Alexa app developers would gain a menu of premium items they could charge for within their applications, as well.

In 2020, the Indian government announced that it was working on a face and voice biometric authentication service called the Unified Mobile Application for New Age Governance.

And this spring, Enacomm launched its Financial Suite with IVR app, which features voice biometrics among its multi-factor authentication capabilities, to Finastra’s FusionStore.

Similar biometric systems have been planned for some time. In 2014, two banks said they were ready to make use of virtual audio assistance in their mobile apps.

Article Topics

Amazon  |  authentication  |  biometric payments  |  India  |  research and development  |  Unified Payments Interface - UPI  |  voice biometrics  |  voice recognition