PhonePe plans deeper user offerings as it marks 10 years, says UPI interoperability limits concentration risk

PhonePe cofounder Rahul Chari said the Walmart-backed payments platform will deepen services for its existing user base over the next decade. He argued UPI’s interoperable structure reduces concentration risk; the company paused its listing plans in March amid market volatility linked to the West Asia conflict.

— Source publishedTue, 15 Sept, 2026, 22:38 IST·First seen Tue, 15 Sept, 2026, 22:57 IST·Source Business Standard · Companies

What happened

PhonePe cofounder Rahul Chari said the UPI app plans to deepen offerings for existing users as it completes a decade. The Walmart-backed company paused listing

Key facts

  • 10 years of operations

Why this matters

PhonePe’s emphasis on product depth creates partnership and acquisition opportunities in adjacent financial services, merchant tools and consumer engagement offerings.

What to watch

  • Growth in PhonePe monthly transacting users, transaction frequency and share of users adopting non-payment products.
  • Merchant-device deployments, merchant subscription revenue and penetration of credit or software products among retailers.
  • RBI, NPCI or UPI policy changes affecting market-share caps, merchant pricing, credit-on-UPI or third-party app interoperability.
  • Competitive responses from Google Pay, Paytm, banks, Jio-backed services and newer credit-on-UPI providers.
  • Evidence of improving contribution margins from financial services and merchant products versus continued consumer-acquisition spending.
  • Renewed IPO filing activity, pre-IPO fundraising, valuation resets or stated profitability milestones.
  • Bundle credit, insurance, wealth and commerce services inside high-frequency UPI payment journeys.
  • Expand merchant acquiring through QR, payment devices, POS integrations, working-capital offers and retailer analytics.
  • Use Walmart and Flipkart ecosystem links for commerce payments, loyalty, seller services and embedded financing.
  • Prioritize existing-user engagement metrics such as monthly active transactors, transactions per user and multi-product adoption ahead of IPO preparation.
  • Delay or resize public-market plans until geopolitical volatility, valuation conditions and profitability visibility improve.