New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday released draft guidelines on the authentication mechanism framework for digital payment transaction authentication that will come into effect from April 1, 2026. 

The Central Bank said the feedback from the public has been examined and suitably incorporated in the final directions.

The directions focus on encouraging introduction of new factors of authentication by leveraging upon technological advancements.

The framework, however, does not call for discontinuation of SMS-based OTP as an authentication factor.

The aim is also to enable issuers to adopt additional risk-based checks beyond the minimum two-factor authentication based on the fraud risk perception of the underlying transaction and facilitate interoperability and open access to technology, along with delineating the responsibility of Issuers.

The draft guidelines also mandate card issuers to validate AFA in non-recurring cross-border CNP transactions whenever such a request is raised by the overseas merchant or acquirer.

The RBI says that all digital payment transactions in India are required to meet the norm of two factors of authentication. While no specific factor was mandated for authentication, the digital payments ecosystem has primarily adopted SMS-based One Time Password (OTP) as the additional factor.

“All digital payment transactions shall be authenticated by at least two distinct factors of authentication, unless exempted. Issuers may, at their discretion, offer a choice of authentication factors to their customers in compliance with these directions,” according to the RBI.

“It shall be ensured that for digital payment transactions, other than card present transactions, at least one of the factors of authentication is dynamically created or proven, i.e., the proof of possession of the factor, being sent as part of the transaction, is unique to that transaction. The factor of authentication shall be such that compromise of one factor does not affect reliability of the other,” it further added.

Also, system providers and system participants will offer authentication or tokenisation service that is accessible to all the applications and token requestors functioning in that operating environment for all use cases and channels or token storage mechanisms.

The first NHS sites are set to save on bills after installing solar panels under a £180 million investment from publicly owned Great British Energy, officials said.

Five sites across the country from hospitals to ambulance stations, along with three more schools, had solar panels installed over the summer, while a further eight schools are set to get the equipment in the autumn.

The five NHS sites and 11 primary schools are expected to save a combined total of £3.8 million over the 30-year lifetimes of the panels, which can be invested in health services and school equipment, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said.

It is part of an investment from Great British Energy announced by the Government in March to award £80 million for 200 schools in England and £100 million for nearly 200 NHS sites to install rooftop solar panels to help healthcare and educational settings curb rocketing energy costs.

Eleven schools are already saving on bills having switched on their solar panels in June, and all schools and hospitals under the scheme are expected to have their Great British Energy solar power running by April.

The Government said only a fifth of schools and one in 10 hospitals have solar panels installed, despite a typical school being able to save up to £25,000 a year and NHS sites potentially gaining savings of £45,000 annually from the technology.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: “Great British Energy is helping your local school or hospital save money on its bills, to be reinvested into the frontline, from textbooks to teachers to medical equipment.

“Across the country, solar panels are going up on rooftops or carpark canopies, to power classrooms and operating theatres with clean, homegrown power.

“This is our clean energy superpower mission in action, protecting our public services with lower bills and energy security.”

Chris Gormley, chief sustainability officer at NHS England, said:  “Thanks to this new funding, we are set to expand solar generation by more than 300% across the NHS – slashing millions of pounds from energy bills, which can then be redirected into patient care.

“These new solar panels are expected to save the NHS £8.6 million every year once all the projects are completed, adding up to £260 million over their lifetime.

“That’s a massive leap towards a more sustainable, cost-efficient NHS.”