Part of Walmart group
PhonePe
PhonePe is expanding, with 70 crore registered users (ET BrandEquity, 3 Oct), a UAE licence and a plan for 20,000 sales hires and 5 million payment devices (Financial Express, 27 Sept). Its 79% UPI share with Google Pay sits against NPCI's 30% cap, due by December 31, 2026 (The Hindu BusinessLine, 28 Sept).
What it means
PhonePe is paying more for each rupee of growth, through cashback and partner incentives.
Reported: Revenue +11.5% in FY26, and the net loss widened 62% to ₹2,792 cr. Inc42,
- Affected
- Pine Labs — prices no margin supportsDo now: don't chase PhonePe on that spending before its next results; a widening loss cannot fund it for long.
- PhonePe's bank, lender and insurer partners — payments tied to a widening lossDo now: keep it on short payment terms while its loss widens.
Both figures from 16 Sept 2026 reports.
up 62%
Latest moves
Our read of each move first, where we have one; what the report said is marked Reported.
- Reported: PhonePe turns an abstract 70 crore user count into a concrete, watchable stunt (one speaker, 494 words per minute, about 980 days to name everyone), a template for brands that need to make scale felt rather than just stated.Reported: PhonePe's anniversary film with Ogilvy has speed-speaker Shahu Supreme, who talks at 494 words per minute, try to name all 70 crore registered users. At that pace the task would take 980 consecutive days, which turns the scale milestone into the creative hook.Watch:
- Reported: Retailers should diversify UPI acceptance and checkout partnerships as PhonePe and Google Pay’s 79% share leaves any cap-driven traffic redistribution—and potential MDR above ₹2,000—material to payment costs and conversion.Reported: PhonePe and Google Pay’s 79% UPI share tests 30% cap enforcement. Proposed MDR on merchant payments above ₹2,000 from October 15 could improve monetisation for smaller UPI apps.Watch:
- Reported: PhonePe’s 20,000-hire, 5 million-device push—especially in rural India—raises the urgency for rivals to defend merchant relationships, field-sales coverage and payment acceptance economics as MDR returns on select UPI transactions.Reported: PhonePe is preparing a merchant-acquisition push with more than 20,000 frontline sales staff and 5 million payment devices, half earmarked for rural India. The expansion follows the return of MDR on specified higher-value P2M UPI payments, creating a new incentive to grow payment acceptance and merchant services.Watch:
Background
From 6 stories, the newest dated 5 Oct 2026. Summary written 6 Oct 2026.
PhonePe is a digital payments company in India that serves consumers and merchants, including a payment gateway for merchants. [1] source: Business Standard
Show 3 more paragraphs and 6 sources
It has over 700 million registered users, and it reported FY2025 revenue from operations of ₹7,631 crore. [1] source: Business Standard In October 2026 it marked its 10th anniversary with a campaign film made with Ogilvy, which cites 70 crore registered users. [2] source: ET BrandEquity
Business Standard reported that PhonePe's net loss widened to ₹2,791.59 crore in FY26 from ₹1,727.41 crore in FY25, while revenue grew 11.5 per cent to ₹7,920.48 crore. [3] source: Business Standard Discontinued rent payment income after RBI guidelines and the real-money gaming ban weighed on revenue. [3] source: Business Standard Its estimated Rs 12,000 crore IPO was awaiting SEBI approval in October 2026. [4] source: Financial Express In May it launched an AI-powered integration layer that cuts merchant payment gateway onboarding from weeks to minutes, with SMEs prioritised. [1] source: Business Standard In September 2026 PhonePe said AI cut selected audit processes from four days to three minutes and saved about 22 person-days per app release. [5] source: Inc42 It uses more than 200 AI agents. [5] source: Inc42
Former PhonePe marketing leader Ramesh Srinivasan was appointed Head of Growth and Revenue at Snabbit in October 2026. [6] source: Storyboard18
Sources
Questions about PhonePe
How fast is PhonePe growing in India?
PhonePe's FY26 revenue grew 11.5 per cent to ₹7,920.48 crore, while its net loss widened to ₹2,791.59 crore from ₹1,727.41 crore in FY25. [3] source: Business Standard
What is PhonePe's current strategy in India?
In May PhonePe launched an AI-powered integration layer cutting merchant payment gateway onboarding from weeks to minutes. [1] source: Business Standard In September 2026 it said AI shortened selected audit processes from four days to three minutes. [5] source: Inc42 In October 2026 its estimated Rs 12,000 crore IPO awaited SEBI approval. [4] source: Financial Express
More stories about PhonePe
- PhonePe moves toward UAE launch with central bank’s in-principle approval
- India’s UPI fee shift could deepen PhonePe and Google Pay dominance
- PhonePe secures initial UAE central bank approval for two payment licences
- PhonePe weighs IPO restart as new UPI MDR rules improve revenue visibility
- PhonePe and Visa launch cardless payment tools for consumers and merchants
- PhonePe brings UPI 123Pay to feature phones via SMS-based payments
- PhonePe launches internet-free UPI payments for feature-phone users
- PhonePe to feed PulsePro transaction insights into PM GatiShakti portal
Stories that mention PhonePe
6 stories
PhonePe is named in these stories but is not their subject.
- Proposed UPI MDR of 0.4% on merchant payments above Rs 2,000 expected 15 October, may slip to 1 January 2027
- UPI volume dips 1.8% in September but stays above 24 billion transactions
- UPI MDR to start Oct 15, funding payment security and merchant acceptance expansion
- India weighs 0.4% fee on UPI merchant payments above ₹2,000, sources say
- UPI payments above ₹2,000 may face MDR under new framework
- NPCI reportedly plans UPI AutoPay mandate portability across payment apps