IPO-bound PhonePe announces UPI payments on feature phones

Fintech company PhonePe has announced the rollout of UPI-based payments for feature phones following its acquisition of the GSPay technology stack from the conversational engagement platform Gupshup.

GSPay is a mobile application built on top of the UPI (Unified Payments Interface) system, specifically designed for feature phones by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). PhonePe plans to customize and enhance the recently acquired GSPay intellectual property and will launch its own UPI payment mobile app for feature phones in India over the next few quarters.

The new app will provide essential UPI features, such as peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers, offline QR payments, and the ability to receive money from other UPI users via mobile numbers or self-generated QR codes. This will facilitate full payment interoperability between feature phones and smartphones.

"The digital financial industry and the wider startup ecosystem have historically underserved this segment of users. We hope to enable millions of feature phone customers to participate in India's rapidly growing digital payments market," said Sameer Nigam, co-founder and CEO of PhonePe.

According to industry data, India had approximately 240 million feature phone users in 2024, with an additional 150 million feature phone shipments expected over the next five years.

Additionally, PhonePe recently appointed Zarin Daruwala to its board of directors, where she joins Walmart CEO Sameer Nigam and the chief financial officer.​