PhonePe Enters UAE, Secures In-Principle Approval From the Central Bank for Its First International Market
India's leading digital payments platform PhonePe has achieved a major milestone in its international expansion journey, securing In-Principle Approval (IPA) from the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) for two crucial licences, Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes (RPSCS), and Stored Value Facilities (SVF), marking the company's first full international market entry.
Here's what this approval actually unlocks. It comes after PhonePe completed the initial regulatory due-diligence process, and it now allows the company to work towards securing final regulatory clearance before it can begin commercial operations in the UAE. Once fully approved, PhonePe plans to work with regional banks, licensed payment service providers and local technology vendors to build out its presence, and is also exploring integration with the UAE's own domestic payment rails, Aani and Jaywan.
The strategic logic behind choosing the UAE is clear. The expansion is inspired by the country's Financial Infrastructure Transformation (FIT) programme and its progressive regulatory framework, and crucially, it targets the roughly 4.3 million Indians living in the Emirates, the UAE's largest expatriate community. Once operational, Indian residents there would be able to pay bills, manage income, send remittances and handle everyday transactions instantly through the PhonePe app, essentially extending India's UPI-style digital payments experience into a regulated overseas market.
PhonePe International Payments CEO and Executive Director Ritesh Pai called the approval an honour and a key milestone, noting that the UAE's vision and regulatory environment make it an ideal setting for the company's international journey, and that PhonePe aims to be a long-term partner supporting the UAE's digital-first economic ambitions.
The bigger picture matters here too. PhonePe already offers limited services in the UAE since 2024, enabling Indian travellers to pay via QR code-based UPI at NEOPAY and Network International terminals through a partnership with NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL). This new approval goes several steps further, moving PhonePe from simply enabling cross-border UPI payments to potentially operating a fully regulated, locally licensed payments business, backed by a platform that already serves over 700 million registered users and 50 million merchants in India. It's also worth noting that PhonePe had paused its own IPO plans earlier this year amid geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East, making this UAE regulatory progress a notable parallel development.
From powering India's UPI revolution to building a regulated payments business in the Gulf, PhonePe's UAE approval signals that India's fintech giants are finally ready to take their playbook global.
#StartupNews #PhonePe #UAE #Fintech #DigitalPayments #IndianStartups #InternationalExpansion
— 𝔖𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔢𝔭 ℜ𝔞𝔦𝔷𝔞