PhonePe, Visa partner on cardless payments in India and 14 overseas markets

The partners are rolling out three cardless-payment offerings: in-store Tap to Pay, smartphone-based merchant acceptance and cross-border QR card payments. The tie-up could widen digital acceptance options for Indian shoppers and small merchants.

— Source publishedWed, 9 Sept, 2026, 14:28 IST·First seen Wed, 9 Sept, 2026, 14:31 IST·Source Inc42

What happened

PhonePe and Visa launched phased cardless-payment offerings in India, including in-store Tap to Pay and smartphone-based merchant acceptance. They also plan

Key facts

  • 3 cardless payment solutions
  • 14 international markets
  • 11 countries where UPI is operational
  • 11.5% operating-revenue growth to ₹7,920.5 crore in FY26 from ₹7,105 crore in FY25
  • 62% net-loss increase to ₹2,792 crore in FY26 from ₹1,727.4 crore in FY25

Why this matters

Payments, merchant-acquiring and travel-commerce players should assess Visa-PhonePe integration opportunities, as the alliance could reshape acceptance partnerships across India and key overseas corridors.

What to watch

  • Named launch markets, issuer banks and Visa credential types supported at rollout.
  • Merchant pricing, MDR treatment and whether softPOS acceptance is available to small merchants without dedicated hardware.
  • Transaction-volume disclosures separating UPI, card tokenization, Tap to Pay, softPOS and cross-border QR activity.
  • RBI or NPCI guidance affecting wallet-linked cards, tokenization, QR interoperability, data localization or merchant acceptance.
  • Competing moves by Google Pay, Paytm, Amazon Pay, BharatPe and banks in Tap to Pay, softPOS and international QR payments.
  • Evidence that Visa QR acceptance abroad interoperates seamlessly with Indian user authentication, FX disclosure and dispute handling.
  • Launch Tap to Pay and softPOS first in high-card-usage merchant categories such as retail chains, hospitality, travel and urban SMEs.
  • Bundle card acceptance with PhonePe merchant software, lending, loyalty and settlement tools to convert payment acceptance into higher-margin merchant services.
  • Use Visa's overseas acceptance footprint to target Indian outbound corridors including the UAE, Singapore, Thailand, the UK and the US.
  • Push tokenized credential-on-file and recurring-payment use cases that link PhonePe's consumer app to Visa card rails.
  • Seek issuer-bank partnerships and incentive funding to subsidize merchant activation, consumer offers and cross-border transaction adoption.