PhonePe, India’s largest digital payments platform, has received in-principle approval from the Central Bank of the UAE for two payment licences, Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes (RPSCS) and Stored Value Facilities (SVF), the company . It is PhonePe’s first international regulatory approval, and a step towards its first market outside India.
Ritesh Pai, chief executive and executive director of international payments at PhonePe, said: “The country’s vision and regulatory environment make it an ideal setting for our international journey. By combining technology with local partnerships, PhonePe intends to support the strong economic and trade corridors connecting the UAE, India, and global markets.”
From UPI dominance to a UAE-regulated platform
PhonePe processes close to 12 billion transactions a month worth roughly ₹14 lakh crore, across more than 700 million registered users and 50 million merchants in India, a 45% share of the country’s UPI payments market. The company is majority-owned by Walmart, which holds a through WM Digital Commerce Holdings; PhonePe shelved a planned IPO targeting a $15 billion valuation in March 2026 as global market conditions shifted.
In the UAE specifically, PhonePe already lets Indian travellers pay by scanning local QR codes at , through a partnership with NPCI International Payments Limited. This approval is a different, larger step: building a locally regulated payments platform in partnership with UAE banks, licensed payment service providers and technology companies, rather than a cross-border acceptance arrangement layered on top of India’s own rails.
What it’s actually building towards
PhonePe said it aims to integrate with Aani, the UAE’s instant payment platform, and Jaywan, the UAE’s domestic card scheme, positioning its full-stack technology platform to support both rather than compete with them. The approval is in-principle only; PhonePe still needs final regulatory sign-off from the CBUAE before starting commercial operations.
Why it matters
PhonePe positioning itself around Aani and Jaywan, rather than bringing its India-built payment stack over, fits a broader pattern of international players choosing to plug into the UAE’s own instant-payment and card infrastructure rather than building parallel systems. For a company processing India’s largest share of UPI volume, that is a deliberate signal about how it intends to operate abroad, not an incidental technical choice.
What’s next
PhonePe has not disclosed a timeline for final licensing, a launch date, or which UAE banks or payment service providers it is in discussions with. Given the company shelved its own IPO months earlier, whether this expansion is funded from existing reserves or ties into a future public-listing story is worth watching, though PhonePe has given no indication either way.
