The partnership brings together three Visa capabilities for PhonePe users — Online Device Tokenization, Tap to Pay and Cross Border Scan to Pay — along with Smart Accept for small merchants. PhonePe said it is the first app in India to offer the three consumer-facing Visa capabilities together and the first Indian app to introduce Cross Border Scan to Pay for international transactions.
Under the arrangement, users can save their Visa cards on PhonePe and use their smartphones for contactless payments at stores, online checkout with participating merchants and QR-based payments while travelling abroad.
Rahul Chari, Founder & CPTO at PhonePe, said, “At PhonePe, our vision has always been to build technology that makes payments universally accessible, intuitive, and secure. Partnering with Visa is a pivotal milestone in scaling that vision globally. By unifying online tokenization, Tap to Pay, and Cross-Border QR payments alongside Smart Accept for merchants, we are removing friction across the entire payments value chain. Through this partnership, we are not just digitising cards, we are establishing a new standard for borderless and cardless commerce for Indian consumers and micro-merchants alike.”
Tap to Pay
PhonePe’s Tap to Pay feature allows Android users to tokenise their Visa cards and make contactless payments at point-of-sale terminals using their smartphones. The feature is designed to work in low-connectivity environments and will be rolled out in phases, starting September 9, 2026.
PhonePe had launched Visa Device Tokenization on its platform in February 2025. The technology allows users to save their Visa card on the app for use across supported transactions.
International QR payments
The companies have also introduced Cross Border Scan to Pay, which 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.
The feature is intended for Indian travellers and is expected to roll out to users soon.
Card acceptance for small merchants
PhonePe’s Smart Accept will allow small merchants to accept card payments through their smartphones without purchasing a separate point-of-sale machine.
Customers will be able to tap physical cards or tokenised mobile wallets against the merchant’s smartphone. The feature is integrated with PhonePe’s existing QR dashboard for unified daily reconciliation and simplified dispute resolution.
The companies said the combined offering will allow a Visa card saved on PhonePe to be used across online checkout, contactless payments at physical stores and QR-based payments in participating international markets.
