Indian fintech company PhonePe has partnered with Visa to introduce three new payment solutions aimed at making card payments more convenient for consumers and merchants. The partnership brings Tap to Pay, Cross Border Scan to Pay and Smart Accept, expanding cardless payment options for users in India and Indians travelling abroad. The solutions were unveiled at the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2026.
PhonePe said the partnership makes it the first app in India to introduce Cross Border Scan to Pay for international transactions. The collaboration combines Visa’s card tokenisation and payment capabilities with PhonePe’s consumer and merchant network, with the aim of providing payment options across domestic transactions and international travel.
Under the Tap to Pay solution, Android users will be able to tokenise their Visa cards on the PhonePe platform and use their smartphones to make contactless payments at point-of-sale machines. The feature is being rolled out in phases, with the rollout starting on September 9, 2026. PhonePe already supports tap-and-pay functionality for certain card-based payment experiences, while Visa’s Tap to Pay technology enables contactless payments through compatible devices.
The second solution, Cross Border Scan to Pay, is designed for international transactions. It will allow PhonePe users to scan Visa-supported QR codes across 14 international markets. The markets listed include Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Japan, China and South Korea, among others. PhonePe said the feature is expected to be rolled out to users soon.
The partnership also builds on Visa’s online device tokenisation capability introduced on PhonePe in February 2025. Through this functionality, users can save their Visa cards on the PhonePe platform and use tokenised card credentials for online transactions at participating e-commerce merchants. Tokenisation replaces sensitive card information with a secure digital token, helping enable card-based payments without repeatedly exposing the underlying card details.
The third offering, Smart Accept, is targeted at small merchants. It will allow merchants to accept card payments directly through their smartphones without requiring a separate point-of-sale machine. Customers will be able to pay by tapping physical cards or tokenised mobile wallets against the merchant’s device. Visa’s Tap to Phone technology similarly enables compatible smartphones to function as contactless payment acceptance devices without additional payment hardware.
Smart Accept will also be integrated with PhonePe’s existing QR dashboard, allowing merchants to manage card payments alongside their other transactions. This is intended to give small businesses an additional way to accept card-based payments while using their existing smartphone-based payment infrastructure.
The new partnership comes as PhonePe continues to expand its payment ecosystem beyond traditional UPI transactions. The company already provides several payment options for consumers and merchants, including UPI, card-based payments, tap-and-pay services and merchant acceptance solutions. PhonePe’s current payments platform also supports international UPI payments in select markets.
According to PhonePe, the company had more than 71.5 crore registered users and a digital payments acceptance network covering over 5 crore merchants as of July 2026. The company said the Visa partnership will use this consumer and merchant network to expand cardless payment options both within India and for Indian consumers making payments overseas.
For merchants, Smart Accept could provide an additional card-acceptance option without the need for a dedicated point-of-sale machine, while consumers can use tokenised Visa cards through their smartphones for contactless transactions. For travellers, Cross Border Scan to Pay is intended to extend the convenience of QR-based payments to supported international markets.
The partnership reflects the continuing convergence of card payments, mobile devices and tokenisation in the digital payments ecosystem. Rather than requiring consumers to carry physical cards for every transaction or merchants to rely solely on dedicated payment terminals, the new solutions are designed to use smartphones as part of both sides of the payment process.
With Tap to Pay, Cross Border Scan to Pay and Smart Accept, PhonePe and Visa are therefore expanding the ways consumers and businesses can use card-based payments through mobile devices. The phased rollout of these services will determine their broader availability and adoption across PhonePe’s consumer and merchant ecosystem.
