New Delhi: Walmart-backed PhonePe has inked an agreement with Visa to roll out three new methods of payment without an actual card. The partnership will introduce tap-to-pay functionality in India, extend scan-to-pay to other countries and enable the small shop owner to accept card payments directly from his/her phone using the smart tool.
The new Tap to Pay feature will allow the Android users to store their debit and credit card information on the PhonePe app and the tap their phone at a store’s payment machine to pay. No need to carry the card with you. This rollout will start on 9th September and will be staged. PhonePe claims the feature would even function even in areas with poor network. The company has offered a similar service for Mastercard customers last year.
The second feature, called Cross Border scan to pay, enables Indians to scan Visa QR codes in another country and pay with their saved Visa card. It will be effective in 14 countries: Singapore, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. PhonePe has not announced any exact timeline for its launch yet but claims it will be the first Indian QR payment app to provide such a Cross Border payment via Visa.
This development follows the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to fintech firms this day to connect India’s UPI with more nations and focus on countries having a robust trade relationship and a large Indian population. PhonePe’s new feature is not designed to work on UPI; its intent is the same to make it easier for Indians to pay while travelling abroad.
The third feature, Smart Accept, is geared toward small businesses. Allows them to take tap payments from financial cards and digital wallets with their smartphone, without having to purchase a dedicated card machine. All these payments will be reflected on the merchant dashboard of PhonePe so that he can easily track it.
This was announced at the Global Fintech Fest 2026 in Mumbai. Online card storage, tap payments and international QR payments all in one platform is the advantage of the update according to PhonePe Co-founder Rahul Chari.
In the meanwhile, PhonePe is also getting ready to go public. It had filed IPO papers with SEBI back in January, which were on hold because of global uncertainty in the market in March. The revenue increased 11.5% YoY in FY26, while the losses widened.
