PhonePe's ONDC App Pincode Surpasses 50K Installs on Play Store and Achieves

The app ranks among the top 50 most downloaded apps on the Play Store and the top 10 on the App Store.

Pincode is currently available in Bangalore, with more locations set to launch soon.

Pincode, a leading shopping app on the ONDC platform, today announced significant milestones. Within just one month of its launch, the app has surpassed 50,000 installs on the Play Store. Pincode has quickly risen to become one of the top 50 Android apps on the Play Store and is also among the top 10 apps on the App Store.

In addition to this milestone, Pincode has been processing over 5,000 orders per day, showcasing strong customer preference and the app's growing popularity in Bangalore, where it currently serves customers. Users in Bangalore are utilizing the app to buy daily necessities such as groceries and order food. Pincode’s success can be attributed to its mission of promoting local commerce and digitally connecting consumers with their favorite supermarkets and restaurants, while offering the convenience of online ordering, attractive discounts, and hassle-free refunds and returns.

The Pincode app, built on the ONDC platform, is poised to revolutionize the way consumers shop by bridging the gap between offline and online shopping experiences. By enabling every Indian shopkeeper digitally, Pincode aims to empower local businesses and ensure their participation in the 21st-century e[1]commerce revolution. The platform's success will also contribute to creating sustainable employment opportunities for numerous individuals, attracting more small merchants to the ecosystem.

"We are thrilled to witness the rapid growth and acceptance of the Pincode app among consumers," said Lalit Singh, General Manager, Pincode. "The ONDC platform has emerged as a game changer for India's local commerce, and we are delighted that Pincode is leading the charge on this. The strong customer preference we are seeing for the Pincode app is a testament to the seamless and convenient shopping experience we offer. Pincode remains committed to enhancing the shopping experience for its users by consistently expanding its selection of stores and adding more categories within the app.’’

The Pincode app will be available in additional cities across India over the next few weeks.

About Pincode: Pincode is a shopping app from PhonePe that offers a revolutionary new approach to e-commerce. Designed on the ONDC network, Pincode places the local stores and sellers at the forefront of the digital shopping growth story. With Pincode, every Indian shopkeeper, regardless of their location, is digitally empowered to tap into the vast potential of e-commerce, creating unprecedented opportunities for growth, while driving innovation at scale.

PhonePe Reportedly Close To Acquire Fintech ZestMoney for $300 Mn

Walmart-backed popular digital payment company PhonePe is close to a big deal according to media reports. PhonePe is ready to acquire fintech startup ZestMoney.

The deal is expected to inked at about $200-300 million, according to the media reports citing sources. The acquisition talks is on-going and is expected to be finalized in the next 3-4 weeks. The fintech startup has so far raised around $140 million from key investors including PayU, Zip, Ribbit Capital, Quona Capital, Xiaomi, Omidyar Network and Goldman Sachs. ZestMoney's revenue during FY2022 is set to increase to ₹145 crore from ₹89 crore in FY2021.

Post acquisition, ZestMoney will continue to operate as a separate entity and the founders will join PhonePe.

Founded in 2015, by Lizzie Chapman, Priya Sharma and Ashish Anantharaman, ZestMoney works on the Pay Now, Pay Later theme. It has more than 17 million registered users across the country. It has the largest network of trader with over 10,000 online partners including Amazon, Flipkart, MakeMyTrip and Nykaa among others. It has presence at over 75,000 offline stores. ZestMoney gives a loan of about 400 crores per month.

Speaking about PhonePe, it has more than 41.5 crore registered users. It entered Financial Services in 2017 and achieved revenue of Rs 1,646 crore in FY21-221 and revenue growth of 138% has been recorded over a year ago.

Founded in December 2015, by Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari and Burzin Engineer, PhonePe was acquired by Flipkart in April 2016.

PhonePe was valued at $5.5 billion in December 2020 and is now in talks to raise a new funding round at a $12 billion valuation.

Owned by Flipkart, a subsidiary of Walmart, PhonePe has acquired companies like GigIndia, WealthDesk, OpenQ, and IndusOS

Niti Aayog and Phonepe Together Launch the Fintech Open Hackathon

The Hackathon aims to showcase path-breaking solutions for the Fintech Ecosystem

Winning teams stand to win exciting cash prizes

As a part of the Fintech Open Month, NITI Aayog in association with PhonePe will be hosting the first-ever open-to-all Hackathon event for ideating and coming up with the most creative solutions for the FinTech space. The Hackathon will provide an opportunity for innovators, digital creators and developers from all over India to think, ideate and code

Participants at the hackathon need to use any open-data APIs like PhonePe Pulse along with frameworks such as Account Aggregator as a foundation to power the following use cases:

• Alternate risk models for Lending, Insurance or Investments with focus on financial Inclusion
• Innovative Products that use the power data signals for various demographics and Geos for broader adoption of financial services
• Improved Visualisation and Derived intelligence based on the Digital payments data
• The final app that participants come up with must incorporate one of the above.

Participating teams can have one 1 (solo) to 5 participants. Participants can use data sources like PhonePe Pulse, the Open Government Data Platform and RBI reports on payments to build on their submission. In addition, they can access any other open data platforms that they are aware of along with the Setu AA Sandbox or the Setu Payments Sandbox to develop their hacks. By the end of the event, participants will be required to present a working prototype of their hack to the judges, post which each hack will be judged based on certain parameters. While the judges consider the hacks, they might ask for additional information on the prototypes.

The winning teams will get exciting prizes:

The top 5 hacks will be awarded a prize money in the following denominations:

• 1st place : INR 1,50,000 for the team - 1 prize
• 2nd place : INR 1,00,000 for the team - 2 prizes
• 3rd place : INR 75,000 for the team - 2 prizes

Judges may decide to award fewer or more prizes depending on the hacks submitted.

The last date to register for the event is 11:59 PM, 23rd February, 2022 and the deadline to submit the final entries is 12:00 noon, 25th February, 2022. There will be a Live AMA on Monday, 21st Feb, 2022 at 4:00 PM to answer any questions the participants may have about the Hackathon. The winners of the Hackathon will be announced on 28th February, 2022.

To register and get more details visit: https://cic.niti.gov.in/fintech-open-month-hackathon.html

PhonePe to Digitize 25 Million Small Merchants across 5500 Talukas in India

The company will also create over 10,000 jobs across the country

PhonePe, India’s leading digital payments platform today announced that it will enable digital payments for over 25 million small merchants across India in the next one year. The company will also onboard these kiranas on its PhonePe for Business app, offering them end-to-end control of the payment process including instant payment confirmations, receipts and reconciliations. It plans to reach 5,500 talukas via its merchant acquisition team that will lead to over 10,000 jobs being created in semi urban and rural areas.

Despite the rapid penetration of digital payments, kiranas across India still rely on cash. Kirana owners have smartphones, data and the aspiration to adopt newer technology, but there are no services that match their aspirations. Kiranas are looking to acquire customers and forge deeper relationships with them. Customers on the other hand are looking for safety and convenience, while continuing to access their local trusted neighbourhood merchant.

PhonePe with its multiple offerings is all set to bridge this gap. It offers its merchant partners a personalized store page on the PhonePe app allowing them to list their store timings, share their product catalogue and promote home delivery options, thereby reaching out to a much wider customer base. Customers have the convenience of discovering local stores in their vicinity and connecting with the merchants using the call or chat feature to place their orders, and pay remotely via the stores tab on the PhonePe app. PhonePe is bringing these offerings to merchants in semi-urban and rural areas to help them digitize and grow their business.

Commenting on the announcement, Vivek Lohcheb, Vice President - Offline Business Development, PhonePe said, “Kiranas and merchants across small villages and towns are striving to progress and prosper. We are really excited to partner with them in this journey and take digital payments to the last mile of India across every village and town. This is also in line with our brand ethos of ''Karte Ja. Badhte Ja'' which reflects the role played by PhonePe in India’s progress, helping bridge the digital divide while empowering merchant partners across Bharat."

About PhonePe:

PhonePe is India’s leading digital payments platform with over 230 million registered users. Using PhonePe, users can send and receive money, recharge mobile, DTH, data cards, pay at stores, make utility payments, buy gold and make investments. PhonePe forayed into financial services in 2017 with the launch of digital gold providing users with a safe and convenient option to buy 24-karat gold securely on its platform. PhonePe has since launched Mutual funds and Insurance financial products like tax-saving funds, liquid funds, international travel insurance and Corona Care, a dedicated insurance product for the COVID-19 pandemic. PhonePe also launched its Switch platform in 2018, and today its customers can place orders on over 200 apps including Ola, Myntra, IRCTC, Goibibo, RedBus, Oyo etc. directly from within the PhonePe mobile app. PhonePe is accepted at over 11 million merchant outlets across 500 cities nationally.

PhonePe launches Domestic Trip Insurance with ICICI Lombard as India starts opening-up

 

• Comprehensive insurance policy covers expenses or losses from all kinds of travel-related incidents

• Sum insured up to ₹ 5 lakhs at just ₹ 499 annually

 

With the lockdown ending and domestic travel gradually starting across   the country, PhonePe, India’s leading digital payments platform, today announced the launch of a comprehensive, industry-first domestic multi-trip insurance cover in a strategic partnership with ICICI Lombard, India’s largest non-life insurance company. This product exclusively available for PhonePe users, provides one of the most affordable annual insurance covers for unlimited trips. This unique solution takes a leap forward from traditional travel insurance removing the need to insure every trip separately and will benefit both business and leisure travellers.

The new launch enables a stress-free travel experience for customers by covering risks associated with all modes of travel within the country (road, rail and air within the country) right from the time a customer leaves home till the time he/she returns. 

For domestic travellers who may be worried about stepping out during the COVID-19 pandemic, this unique, all-in-one insurance product offers a comprehensive bouquet of benefits that cover losses arising from trip cancellations, home burglary while travelling, missed connecting flights, lost baggage and more. The product also caters to the needs of customers who prefer buying domestic travel insurance every time they book a ticket or a cab. With 365-days protection at just INR 499, this is the most cost-effective and hassle-free cover that cuts across all modes of transport. 

For air travellers specifically, there is a unique feature of trip cancellation due to hospitalisation and up to INR 1,000 payout for trip cancellation due to government lockdown. In addition to this, it also provides cover against death or hospitalization due to an accident during the journey with a sum assured of INR 5 lakhs. PhonePe now offers customers a complete travel insurance product portfolio with both international and domestic travel insurance catering to the needs of all kinds of travellers. 

Speaking on the launch, Gunjan Ghai, VP & Head of Insurance, PhonePe said, “This product reflects PhonePe’s philosophy of finding time and context-relevant products for its customers.  We are excited to launch this unique and industry-first insurance cover for domestic travellers. The product offers cover for all modes of transport for unlimited trips in a year while also providing very relevant features in the current unlocking 1.0 scenario. We believe this solution will provide policyholders peace of mind so that they can focus on enjoying their travel without any worry. We remain deeply committed to  making insurance affordable, simple and accessible for over 200 Mn PhonePe users.”

On the launch, Sanjeev Mantri, Executive Director, ICICI Lombard General Insurance said, “We are delighted to associate with PhonePe for this ‘first of its kind’ travel insurance offering. At ICICI Lombard, our focus is to support our customers in their hour of need, thereby demonstrating our brand ethos of Nibhaye Vaade. As we get back to normal life amid social distancing, this product will surely benefit a large number of travelers, safeguarding them from any unforeseen circumstances. Further, the multi-trip, multi-mode makes this solution a convenient, cost-effective and extremely appealing proposition for the frequent traveler."

PhonePe users can purchase the domestic multi-trip insurance policy under the “My Money” section on the PhonePe app. The policy purchase process takes less than 2 minutes and customers will be issued their policy documents instantly on the PhonePe app.

About PhonePe:

PhonePe is India’s leading digital payments platform with over 200 million registered users. Using PhonePe, users can send and receive money, recharge mobile, DTH, data cards, pay at stores, make utility payments, buy gold and make investments. PhonePe forayed into financial services in 2017 with the launch of digital gold providing users with a safe and convenient option to buy 24-karat gold securely on its platform.

PhonePe has since launched Mutual funds and Insurance financial products like tax-saving funds, liquid funds, international travel insurance and Corona Care, a dedicated insurance product for the COVID-19 pandemic. PhonePe also launched its Switch platform in 2018, and today its customers can place orders on over 180 apps including Ola, Myntra, IRCTC, Goibibo, redBus, Oyo etc. directly from within the PhonePe mobile app. PhonePe is accepted at over 10 million merchant outlets across 400 cities nationally. 

About ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd

We are the largest private-sector non-life insurer in India based on gross direct premium income in fiscal 2020 (Source: IRDAI). We offer our customers a comprehensive and well-diversified range of products, including motor, health, crop, fire, personal accident, marine, engineering and liability insurance, through multiple distribution channels. 

PhonePe Launches Donation Drive for COVID-19, Aims to Contribute Rs 100 cr to PM Fund

After Paytm, Flipkart-owned PhonePe has launched a donation drive and said it aims to contribute up to Rs 100 crore to PM CARES Fund towards fighting coronavirus crisis.

PhonePe said it will contribute Rs 10 for every user, who donates to the PM CARES Fund via the PhonePe App using UPI by April 30, 2020.

"In total, PhonePe has pledged to contribute a maximum of up to Rs 100 crore," a statement said.

Paytm had on Saturday said it aims to contribute Rs 500 crore to PM CARES (Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund), and will contribute up to Rs 10 for every contribution or any other payment made on Paytm using the wallet, UPI and Paytm Bank debit card.

Sameer Nigam, founder and CEO of PhonePe, said the 100 crore pledge is an attempt to lift the mood of the country in this period of crisis.

"We are asking every Indian to unite together and donate, even if it's just Re 1, to the PM CARES Fund. Our mission is to get 10 crore people to donate to this cause and create a world record for the highest ever number of donors for a cause in history," he added. PTI SR

PhonePe Resume Services, Partners ICICI Bank

A day after its UPI services were impacted due to an exclusive reliance on the beleaguered Yes Bank, financial app PhonePe on Saturday announced a resumption in services.

It has connected to second largest private sector lender ICICI Bank to act as a payment service provider in place of Yes Bank to make it possible. 

Its chief executive Sameer Nigam thanked ICICI Bank and the National Payments Corporation of India for making the transition possible in quick time.

After being put under moratorium, Yes Bank was put under severe restrictions including caps on payments, which impacted its ability to settle transactions on behalf of partners like PhonePe. 

At last count, there were 15 firms which were dependent on Yes Bank for the services and may be impacted in different measures. PTI AA

PhonePe Bans Single-Use Plastics across All its Indian Offices

PhonePe, India’s leading digital payments platform, today announced that it has banned the use of all single-use plastics across its 40+ offices in India. As a part of a national cleanup exercise conducted during the Diwali season, PhonePe removed all disposable plastic cups, plates and cutlery from all its office cafeterias. It has also replaced all plastic dustbin liners with fully biodegradable paper-based garbage bags. Over the next six months, PhonePe aims to replace any plastic-based marketing collateral with eco-friendlier alternatives which are both 100% reusable and 100% recyclable.

PhonePe’s ban on single-use plastics is inspired by the central government’s vision of making India single-use plastic free by 2022. 

Speaking on the initiative Sameer Nigam, Founder and CEO PhonePe, said” Nowadays there are many other cost-affordable and environmentally-friendly materials available. It’s high time we adopted these new materials and shed our addiction to disposable plastics. In the next few months, PhonePe will be introducing a slew of other measures across our offices towards creating an eco-friendly and sustainable workspace for all our employees.” 

About PhonePe:

Bengaluru-headquartered PhonePe is the fastest growing digital payments platform in India with over 150 million registered users. Using PhonePe, users can send and receive money, recharge mobile, DTH, data cards, make utility payments and buy gold. PhonePe is accepted across 70 lakh merchant outlets nationally. PhonePe also launched its own Apps platform in 2018, and today its customers can place orders on Ola, Myntra, IRCTC, Goibibo, redBus, Oyo, and Treebo, etc directly from within the PhonePe Mobile App.

Banks to Charge Customers after First 30 UPI Transactions including Google Pay, Phone Pe

In a what comes as no less than a surprise, especially after infamous Demonetization that was termed by government as strategy for cash-less economy, Person to person (P2P) money transfers using Unified Payments Interface (UPI) may soon be charged by Banks and Kotak Mahindra Bank has already announced this. This include customers doing digital transactions using BHIM, Phone Pe, Google Pay etc., for which the Banks are going to charge a specific amount.

Currently, the UPI transactions, for both person to person or person to merchant, do not attract any charges. However, some banks have already started sending notifications to their customers stating that person to person UPI transactions would be chargeable from May 1, 2019 onwards.

For P2P fund transfer, Kotak Mahindra has recently notified its customers that while the first 30 P2P transactions on UPI will be free, after this 30 transaction limit, the bank will charge Rs. 2.50 for every transaction worth Rs. 1000 or less and a fee of Rs.5 will be levied on transactions above Rs.1000, which will be applicable across all the UPI platforms including Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay and others.

It is to be noted however that all other customer payments of online shopping, transport services and bill payments would remain free irrespective of the banks and UPI platforms.

According to multiple media sources, other banks such as ICICI, HDFC and SBI are likely to follow the suit. As of March 2019, there are 142 banks that are offering UPI payments to their customers.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an umbrella organisation for all retail payments in India and creator of UPI, hasn’t commented on these new and unwanted changes on UPI transactions.

Related - Meet NPCI – A Lesser Known Startup Behind Much Famous Unified Payments Interface (UPI)

Currently, UPI mode of payment is the only mode of free payment transfer in the country and according to NPCI website, close 800 million transactions worth Rs. 1,33,460 crore were done in March 2019 alone. Over the last one year, there has been over 300% rise in the volume of UPI transactions and this growth is seen continuing over the near term.

In January, Paytm, Google Pay and PhonePe have recorded more than 220 million UPI transactions.

In August last year, NPCI launched UPI 2.0 with several new features, including an overdraft facility enabling customers to link their overdraft accounts to the payments system.

In September 2016, it was reported that NPCI has filed patent for UPI in India and had even filed patents abroad as well, which makes UPI as the second Indian homegrown technology platform that would export to other parts of the world after Aadhaar.

Source - Business Line, NPCI

Walmart-owned Flipkart to Raise Fresh Funding; PhonePe to Raise Capital Separately - Report

E-commerce giant Flipkart, which was acquired by Walmart Inc. in May, is said to be in talks with strategic investors to raise fresh capital, reported LiveMint citing two people familiar with the development at the company.

The report also suggested that PhonePe, the payments arm of Flipkart, may also raise funds separately in order to compete with bigger rival Paytm. PhonePe may raise up to $1 billion separately next year to take on its bigger rival Paytm.

In May this year, US-based retail giant Walmart had acquired 77% stake in Flipkart for around $16 billion. However, Walmart has indicated that it is open to getting other strategic investors on board at Flipkart. Beside the retailer also indicated that it is willing to continue funding PhonePe.

Notably, PhonePe had already received $175 million, separately from the parent Flipkart, from Walmart last week, which was the part of $500-million commitment.

According to the LiveMint, a PhonePe spokeswoman confirmed that the payments firm had received a $175 million funds infusion from Walmart, but added that PhonePe was not looking to raise capital from outside strategic investors.

“We would like to confirm we that have got a fund infusion of $175 million to continue with our aggressive expansion plans in the offline and online space. This is part of the $500 million commitment that was made to us. Walmart has added these funds to help us compete even more aggressively, grow faster and take on competition,” the spokeswoman said in an email to Livemint.

To recall, in last September PhonePe announced that on its platform there were 7.47 million UPI transaction in August which is double that of 3.5 million UPI transactions in May this year. Thus, its share rose steadily from 39% in July and 36% in June to 45% in August and thus it has surpassed government's BHIP app in number of transaction as well as in total shares.

In August 2017, PhonePe had announced that it has achieved a phenomenal $2.5 Billion total payment volume (TPV) annual runrate which the company claims is the fastest ramp up seen in India’s digital payments market to date.

After Walmart acquired Flipkart, there were discussions over on-boarding Google Inc. as an strategic investors to raise fresh capital, the discussion however collapsed as Sachin Bansal, one of the two co-foundres of Flipkart, exited the e-commerce firm.

Google is now said to be planning to launch its own e-commerce platform separately in India.

Walmart-owned Flipkart to Raise Fresh Funding; PhonePe to Raise Capital Separately - Report

E-commerce giant Flipkart, which was acquired by Walmart Inc. in May, is said to be in talks with strategic investors to raise fresh capital, reported LiveMint citing two people familiar with the development at the company.

The report also suggested that PhonePe, the payments arm of Flipkart, may also raise funds separately in order to compete with bigger rival Paytm. PhonePe may raise up to $1 billion separately next year to take on its bigger rival Paytm.

In May this year, US-based retail giant Walmart had acquired 77% stake in Flipkart for around $16 billion. However, Walmart has indicated that it is open to getting other strategic investors on board at Flipkart. Beside the retailer also indicated that it is willing to continue funding PhonePe.

Notably, PhonePe had already received $175 million, separately from the parent Flipkart, from Walmart last week, which was the part of $500-million commitment.

According to the LiveMint, a PhonePe spokeswoman confirmed that the payments firm had received a $175 million funds infusion from Walmart, but added that PhonePe was not looking to raise capital from outside strategic investors.

“We would like to confirm we that have got a fund infusion of $175 million to continue with our aggressive expansion plans in the offline and online space. This is part of the $500 million commitment that was made to us. Walmart has added these funds to help us compete even more aggressively, grow faster and take on competition,” the spokeswoman said in an email to Livemint.

To recall, in last September PhonePe announced that on its platform there were 7.47 million UPI transaction in August which is double that of 3.5 million UPI transactions in May this year. Thus, its share rose steadily from 39% in July and 36% in June to 45% in August and thus it has surpassed government's BHIP app in number of transaction as well as in total shares.

In August 2017, PhonePe had announced that it has achieved a phenomenal $2.5 Billion total payment volume (TPV) annual runrate which the company claims is the fastest ramp up seen in India’s digital payments market to date.

After Walmart acquired Flipkart, there were discussions over on-boarding Google Inc. as an strategic investors to raise fresh capital, the discussion however collapsed as Sachin Bansal, one of the two co-foundres of Flipkart, exited the e-commerce firm.

Google is now said to be planning to launch its own e-commerce platform separately in India.

With 7.4 Mn Transactions, Flipkart's PhonePe Claims To Overtake Govt's BHIM App

Flipkart-owned PhonePe, the largest user of Unified Payments Interface (UPI), said it overtook the government's Bharat Interface for Mobile or BHIM app with a 45% share of the total transactions in August.

In an announcement, the company said that on its platform there were 7.47 million UPI transaction in August which is double that of 3.5 million UPI transactions in May this year. Thus, its share rose steadily from 39% in July and 36% in June to 45% in August and thus it has surpassed government's BHIP app in number of transaction as well as in total shares.

PhonePe CEO Sameer Nigam said that the upcoming next version of UPI will enable several new features and drive usage further.

The company is on an overdrive to sign on new merchants, both offline and online, ahead of the festive season which is just round the corner, Nigam said. “We have already integrated around 30 of the top 100 online merchants on the PhonePe app and in the offline space we are going live in 15 pan-India chains this quarter"

According to the latest data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the total number of UPI transactions stood at 16.6 million in August, of which BHIM's share was 41% with around 6.8 million transactions.

Related Reading - Makers of India's UPI App Is Bringing Ripple Technology To India

Online firms such as FreshMenu, RailYatri, AbhiBus, Box8 and TicketNew have integrated with PhonePe while offline players such as Apollo Pharmacy , Barista, Spencer's Retail and Café Cof fee Day are offering PhonePe as a payment option. “The bulk of our merchant transactions are through UPI,“ said Nigam.

Nigam further said that PhonePe achieved a phenomenal 66% month-on-month volume growth in August.

Last month, PhonePe had announced that it has achieved a phenomenal $2.5 Billion total payment volume (TPV) annual runrate which the company claims is the fastest ramp up seen in India’s digital payments market to date. PhonePe’s monthly transactions have grown 800% since December last year, fueled largely by exponential growth in online merchant, mobile recharge and bill payment transactions.

Flipkart's Digital Payment Firm PhonePe Achieves $2.5 Billion Run Rate Last Month

Flipkart's owned digital payment firm PhonePe today announced that it achieved a phenomenal $2.5 Billion total payment volume (TPV) annual runrate. This is the fastest ramp up seen in India’s digital payments market to date. PhonePe’s monthly transactions have grown 800% since December last year, fueled largely by exponential growth in online merchant, mobile recharge and bill payment transactions. The PhonePe mobile app has been downloaded by over 40 million Indians in the past 10 months.

Sameer Nigam, Co-founder & CEO, PhonePe said, "We are excited by the rapid adoption of PhonePe across India. The $2.5 billion TPV milestone further validates that our efforts to make digital payments really easy, safe and universally accepted are starting to bear fruit. We want every Indian - whether urban or rural - to feel comfortable joining the cashless economy."

PhonePe is a Flipkart company and the fastest growing Fintech player in India. With over 40 million installs, the PhonePe App drives the maximum number of UPI transactions in India. Using PhonePe users can send and receive money, recharge Mobile, DTH, Datacards, make utility payments and shop online and offline.

On the other hand, India's biggest fintech & e-wallet firm Paytm has already achieved a USD 10 billion annual transaction volume this year, as per the company’s founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma. Post demonetization, Paytm did more than 200 million transactions in December 2016 and clocked Rs 5,000cr worth transactions in January.

Paytm has been increasingly focusing on its e-commerce business Paytm Mall, especially the O2O commerce space and it has edge over PhonePe in the offline payments space is simply because it is accepted at a larger number of merchant outlets.

PhonePe, unlike to Paytm, controls 80% of merchant transactions on the unified payments interface (UPI).

Another payment firm and close competitor to Flipkart's PhonePe is Mobikwik which has different set of strategies as compared to both Phonepe and Paytm. Mobikwik is now targeting userbase in semi-urban and rural areas as this month, the company has developed and issued a mobile payment app on behalf of BSNL called BSNL Wallet which is intented to take the reach of digital payments to semi-urban and rural India.

Flipkart Acquires Its Own Ex-Employees' Startup PhonePe

India's ecommerce giant Flipkart on Friday said it has acquired Bangalore-based payments start-up PhonePe Internet Pvt. Ltd, which was launched last December by former Flipkart employees Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari and Burzin Engineer. The amount paid for acquisiton was remain undisclosed but the deal is not cash transaction.

The PhonePe team will join Flipkart but will function as an independent business unit.

PhonePe is Flipkart's third major acquisition in payments segment, after it bought payments start-up NGPay (Jigrahak Mobility Solutions Pvt. Ltd) in 2014, and acquired FX Mart, last August.

Interestingly, PhonePe's founders earlier founded Mime360, digital media distribution firm, was also acquired by Flipkart in 2011 to build its later aborted digital music distribution platform Flyte. PhonePe is their second startup the founders has sold to Flipkart.

PhonePe, which boasts itself as India's first UPI based App to provide a cashless and a seamless payment experience, hasn't yet launched a product, but is working on a payments solution around the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), an initiative of the National Payments Corp. of India, which will allow fund transfer between banks and will make inter-operability between banks and instant payments possible by using a single identifier like the Aadhaar number or a virtual address.

The UPI is a part of a set of government programmes and technologies, together called India Stack, that companies can use to slash costs in offline authentication and provide services legally approved by the government to anyone with a mobile phone. The UPI is set to be formally launched in April.

"Payments has been one of the biggest hurdles for mass adoption of online shopping in India. UPI has the potential of transforming the entire payments ecosystem in the country. The acquisition of PhonePe is in line with Flipkart’s focus on driving innovation on the payments front. I am delighted that two Flipkart veterans—Sameer and Rahul—are at the helm of this initiative," said Binny Bansal, chief executive officer, Flipkart, in a statement.