PhonePe, the leading digital payments platform in India, has partnered with Axis Bank on UPI multi-bank model. Now, PhonePe users can create and use multiple Unified Payments Infrastructure (UPI) IDs with Axis Bank’s “@axl” handle. PhonePe will also start acquiring merchants with Axis Bank, the firm said in a statement.
With 265 million registered users, PhonePe is the largest digital payments platforms in India. Giving an option to use multiple UPI IDs will ensure they can still make transactions even if any one bank’s handle is temporarily out of service.
“We are excited to partner with Axis Bank to provide our users an option to create and transact using @axl handle on PhonePe. Our platform now enables the users to choose between multiple handles for their UPI transactions on the multi-bank model. This partnership with Axis Bank will ensure greater business continuity for both our customers and merchant partners, making their transaction experience seamless.” Hemant Gala, VP Financial Services & Payments, PhonePe, said. Sanjeev Moghe, EVP & Head Cards & Payments, Axis Bank, said, “This collaboration with PhonePe strengthens our commitment towards digitization of the Indian payment ecosystem. It will help expand our reach to customers and the merchant community while offering secure and seamless payment experiences.”
In January, PhonePe emerged as the largest UPI app, handling 968.72 million transactions worth 1.92 trillion, according to data from the National Payments Company (NPCI). The goal of the Indian digital payment business is to make UPI transactions seamlessly in collaboration with Axis Bank. So far, the main banking partner of PhonePe was Yes Bank, catering 265 million registered customers to PhonePe. Partnering with multiple banking partners is anticipated to boost the overall reliability.
PhonePe earlier joined hands with YES Bank and ICICI bank for creating and using UPI IDs for online payments multi-bank model.
PhonePe continued its lead on UPI payments, clocking the highest volume of 968.7 million transactions in January, up by 7% from December 2020, and processing a total value of ₹1.92 trillion, beating rival Google Pay. PhonePe processed close to 42% of the overall UPI transactions, which stood at 2.3 billion in January 2021, and 44% in terms of overall payment value. Google Pay processed close to 853.5 million (37%) UPI transactions in January, compared with 855 million in December 2020.
