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PhonePe and Visa announced three payment services - Tap to Pay, Cross Border Scan to Pay and Smart Accept - at the Global Fintech Fest 2026 in Mumbai on 9 September 2026.
PhonePe became the first Indian app to offer the full suite of three core Visa consumer capabilities: device tokenisation, Tap to Pay and Cross Border Scan to Pay.
Tap to Pay lets Android users tokenise Visa cards inside the app for contactless payments at POS terminals, and works in low-connectivity conditions.
Cross Border Scan to Pay will let Indian travellers scan Visa-supported QR codes in 14 international markets, including Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
PhonePe reported more than 71.5 crore registered users and over 5 crore merchants as of July 2026.
The actual card number is replaced by a unique substitute code - a token - that is specific to one card, one device or merchant, and one token requestor. A stolen token cannot be reused elsewhere, so card data never sits with the merchant.
Simple Analogy: A hotel key card that opens only your room, never the safe.
From 1 October 2022 the Reserve Bank barred merchants and payment aggregators from storing actual card numbers, CVV and expiry data; only card issuers and card networks may hold card-on-file data, and saved cards must be replaced by tokens. This is the regulatory base on which Visa's device tokenisation on apps like PhonePe rests.
The statute under which the RBI regulates and authorises payment systems in India, including card networks and payment apps.
Regulator of payment systems under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007; issued the card tokenisation framework
Umbrella organisation for retail payments, operating UPI, RuPay, IMPS, NACH and FASTag; PhonePe is the largest UPI app by transaction volume
Global card payment network whose tokenisation, Tap to Pay and cross-border QR capabilities PhonePe has adopted
General Awareness > Banking and financial awareness - payment systems, RBI regulation
General Awareness > Economy and current affairs
Which of the following is a most likely consequence of implementing the 'Unified Payments Interface (UPI)'?
Answer: Mobile wallets will not be necessary for online payments.
Consider the following statements: 1. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) helps in promoting the financial inclusion in the country. 2. NPCI has launched RuPay, a card payment scheme. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer: Both 1 and 2
Which one of the following best describes the term "Merchant Discount Rate" sometimes seen in news?
Answer: The charge to a merchant by a bank for accepting payments from his customers through the bank's debit cards.
With reference to digital payments, consider the following statements: 1. BHIM app allows the user to transfer money to anyone with a UPI-enabled bank account. 2. While a chip-pin debit card has four factors of authentication, BHIM app has only two factors of authentication. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer: 1 only
Replacing actual card details with a unique token so that merchants never store the card number.
RBI framework effective 1 October 2022 barring merchants and aggregators from storing card data.
The merchant device on which card payments are accepted physically.