By Jaspreet Kalra and Ashwin Manikandan

MUMBAI (Reuters) -India will allow users to approve payments made through popular domestic payments network, the Unified Payments Interface, using facial recognition and fingerprints starting October 8, three sources directly familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

Authentications will be done using biometric data stored under the Government of India’s unique identification system – Aadhar, one of the sources said.

The move follows recent guidelines from the Reserve Bank of India permitting alternative methods of authentication and will mark a departure from the current system, which requires a numeric PIN for payment authentication.

The National Payments Corporation of India, which operates UPI, plans to showcase this new biometric feature at

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