PhonePe and Visa Partner for Cardless Payments in 14 Markets

PhonePe and Visa have launched cardless payment solutions covering Tap to Pay, cross-border QR payments across 14 markets and smartphone-based merchant acceptance. The partnership expands digital payment options for Indian consumers and businesses globally.

PhonePe and Visa have announced a strategic partnership to expand cardless payments for Indian consumers and merchants, introducing new capabilities for contactless transactions, cross border QR payments and smartphone-based card acceptance. The partnership was unveiled at the Global Fintech Fest 2026 in Mumbai.

The collaboration introduces three solutions: Tap to Pay, Cross Border Scan to Pay and Smart Accept. It builds on Visa Device Tokenisation, which PhonePe introduced in February 2025, allowing users to securely link eligible Visa cards to the PhonePe platform and make payments without carrying a physical card.

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Tap to Pay will enable Android users to tokenise their Visa cards on PhonePe and make contactless payments at NFC-enabled point-of-sale terminals using their smartphones. The feature is being rolled out progressively from today, and is designed to support payments even in low-connectivity environments.

For Indian travellers, Cross Border Scan to Pay will extend PhonePe’s QR-based payment experience to 14 international markets. The service will allow users to scan Visa-supported QR codes while travelling, with markets including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Japan, China and South Korea. The feature is expected to roll out to users shortly.

The partnership also introduces Smart Accept for small and micro-merchants. The solution allows businesses to accept card payments directly through compatible smartphones, removing the need to purchase a separate physical card POS terminal. Customers can tap physical cards or tokenised mobile wallets against the merchant’s device.

PhonePe will also continue offering Unified Online Tokenisation, enabling consumers to save a Visa card once and use it across participating e-commerce platforms. This extends the cardless experience from physical stores to online commerce.

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The partnership expands PhonePe’s payments portfolio beyond its UPI-led ecosystem and comes as India’s digital payments market increasingly focuses on interoperability, tokenisation and cross-border transactions. As of July 2026, PhonePe reported more than 71.5 crore registered users and an acceptance network exceeding five crore merchants.