Okta Report: India Leads Global MFA Adoption at 89%

Okta, the leading independent identity provider, has released India-specific findings from the Secure Sign-in Trends Report 2025. The analysis, which tracked billions of anonymised authentications across major customer accounts globally, reveals that Indian enterprises have established an exceptionally high security baseline. With Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) adoption now at over 89%, India has emerged as a global leader in foundational identity protection, significantly outperforming broader international averages.

Key Stats: India vs. Global Benchmarks:

• Global vs. Local: While the global workforce MFA adoption average stands at 70%, India-based organisations have reached a superior 89.4% adoption rate.

• Sustained Momentum: India’s adoption grew by 4.1 percentage points year-over-year, indicating that security remains a top-tier executive priority despite already high baselines.

• The Global Phishing-Resistant Shift: India’s progress aligns with a massive global movement toward advanced security, with phishing-resistant, passwordless authentication adoption increasing by 63% worldwide.

• Closing the Gap: Globally, nearly a third of users still lack basic MFA, making India’s near-90% coverage a critical differentiator for regional business resilience.

Shakeel Khan, Country Manager & RVP, Okta India "India’s MFA adoption rate is a testament to the nation’s proactive stance in digital defense, effectively raising the cost of attack for cybercriminals. However, relying solely on traditional MFA methods is today’s 'security debt. The real shift, the strategic imperative, is transitioning to phishing-resistant, passwordless authentication. True digital transformation requires identity to be not just secure, but frictionlessly intelligent. For Indian organisations, this means elevating authentication from a mere compliance checkpoint to a foundational element of competitive advantage."

Mathew Graham, Regional Chief Security Officer APAC, Okta "Traditional factors like SMS and voice are increasingly vulnerable to sophisticated social engineering. Our data shows that phishing-resistant methods like WebAuthn and FastPass not only close the most critical security gaps but also remove the friction that typically slows down a workforce. For security leaders, the goal is clear: build an architecture where the most secure way to sign in is also the easiest."

Takeaways for Indian CXOs and IT Leaders

The 2025 report confirms that for Indian enterprises, the era of MFA as an "optional" layer is over. CXOs should now leverage their strong adoption rates to mandate a transition toward high-assurance authentication standards. This includes prioritizing phishing resistance for all sensitive access and actively phasing out low-assurance factors like SMS. The security landscape is no longer about compromise, but transformation: enterprises must adopt Zero Trust principles and develop a clear, long-term roadmap to minimize reliance on passwords, ensuring that identity becomes a seamless enabler of productivity rather than a barrier.