Banks May Use Face Recognition, Iris Scan To Check Fraud: Report

The report stated that the prospect of banks using facial recognition has concerned some privacy experts.

New Delhi: To reduce fraud and tax evasion, the Central government is now allowing banks to verify individual transactions that go beyond certain annual limits using facial recognition and an iris scan in some cases, sources told news agency Reuters.

The Reuters report stated that a few large private and public banks have started using the option. The advisory allowing the verification is not public and has not previously been reported.

However, the verification is not mandatory and is intended for cases where another government identification card used for tax purposes, the Permanent Account Number (PAN) card, is not shared with banks.

The report stated that the prospect of banks using facial recognition has concerned some privacy experts.

“This raises substantial privacy concerns especially when India lacks a dedicated law on privacy, cybersecurity and facial recognition,” Pavan Duggal, an advocate and cyber law expert, told the news agency.

Earlier, the Centre had said it is targeting parliamentary approval of a new privacy law by early 2023.

The fresh measures can be used to verify identities of individuals making deposits and withdrawals exceeding 2 million rupees ($24,478.61) in a financial year, where the Aadhaar identity card is shared as proof of identify, said two government officials, who asked not to be named because the information is not public.

The Union Ministry of Finance had in December asked banks to take “necessary action” on a letter by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which suggested verification should be done through facial recognition and iris scanning, especially where fingerprint authentication of an individual fails.