PhonePe, Visa launch three new payment solutions
4 min read
PhonePe and Visa introduce Tap to Pay, Cross‑Border Scan‑to‑Pay, and Smart Accept, expanding card‑free payments for shoppers and enabling card acceptance for small merchants.
PhonePe and Visa announced together the rollout of three new payment options—Tap to Pay, Cross‑Border Scan‑to‑Pay, and Smart Accept. The launch took place on stage at the Global Fintech Fest 2026, with executives from both firms presenting. This collaboration positions PhonePe as India’s first app to offer Cross‑Border Scan‑to‑Pay for overseas transactions. It also makes PhonePe the first app to provide consumers with the full set of three essential Visa features: Online Device Tokenization, Tap to Pay, and Cross‑Border Scan‑to‑Pay. Moreover, the platform now lets micro‑merchants accept cards via Smart Accept.
Key Takeaways
- PhonePe and Visa launched three new payment solutions: Tap to Pay, Cross-Border Scan-to-Pay and Smart Accept.
- The rollout, announced at Global Fintech Fest 2026, makes PhonePe India’s first app offering Cross-Border Scan-to-Pay.
- PhonePe becomes the first app offering all three Visa features: Online Device Tokenization, Tap to Pay and Cross-Border Scan-to-Pay.
- Smart Accept lets micro-merchants accept card payments, expanding card acceptance for small businesses.
Building on the Visa Device Tokenization introduced on PhonePe in February 2025, this effort creates a smooth, card‑free payment environment. After users add their Visa card to PhonePe, they can tap their phone to pay in‑store, checkout online with preferred merchants, or scan QR codes when overseas—no physical cards required.
Key highlights of these payment solutions:
Tap to Pay: Android users can tokenize their Visa cards for contactless payments at POS terminals, even when connectivity is limited. The feature will be rolled out in stages beginning September 9, 2026.
Cross‑Border Scan‑to‑Pay: Introduced at the event, this capability lets users scan Visa‑enabled QR codes in fourteen major overseas markets—Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Japan, China, and South Korea—eliminating currency‑exchange hassles for Indian travelers. Availability for users is coming shortly.
Unified Online Tokenization: Built into the platform, users benefit from a secure ‘save once, use anywhere’ checkout across all participating online retailers. Millions of PhonePe users already use this feature.
Smart Accept enables card payments for micro‑merchants
Smart Accept: Also revealed at the launch, this tool lets small merchants take card payments straight from their smartphones, with no need for a separate POS terminal. Shoppers can pay by tapping a physical card or a tokenized mobile wallet against the merchant’s device, removing the requirement for extra hardware. The solution zeroes out the cost of owning a card‑present device, provides easy onboarding and favorable commercial rates, and fully integrates card payments into PhonePe’s existing QR dashboard for unified daily reconciliation and streamlined dispute handling.
PhonePe, Visa seek frictionless payments across borders
Speaking at the launch, Rahul Chari, Founder and CPTO of PhonePe, said, “Our goal at PhonePe has always been to create technology that makes payments universally accessible, intuitive, and secure. Teaming with Visa marks a key step in expanding that vision worldwide. By bringing together online tokenization, Tap‑to‑Pay, Cross‑Border QR payments, and Smart Accept for merchants, we eliminate friction across the whole payments chain. Through this partnership we are not merely digitizing cards; we are setting a new benchmark for border‑less, card‑free commerce for Indian consumers and small merchants.”
Suresh Sethi, Visa’s Group Country Manager for India and South Asia, commented, “India leads the global digital payments shift, and Visa is proud to drive this change. Our alliance with PhonePe moves us forward, sharing a vision to provide every Indian, everywhere, with trusted, secure, and frictionless commerce. By merging Visa’s worldwide network, tokenization strengths, and PhonePe’s unmatched reach into a seamless experience, we go beyond simplifying payments—we reshape how India engages with the global economy. This partnership reinforces Visa’s aim to be the premier way to pay and be paid worldwide, offering experiences that are both secure and effortless.”
PhonePe expands digital payments reach
PhonePe Limited (previously PhonePe Private Limited) creates digital platforms for payments, digital distribution, and financial services. Based in India, the PhonePe payments app debuted in 2016. By July 2026, the service counted more than 71.5 crore cumulative registered users and a payments‑acceptance network covering over 5 crore merchants.
Published on September 9, 2026
