PhonePe is preparing to launch UPI payment app for feature phones, no need for internet

PhonePe announced that it is set to unveil the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) solution for feature phone users in India. PhonePe, a digital payments and financial services company, said its upcoming payments solution will be based on NPCI's UPI 123Pay technology. It will be developed based on the GSPay tech stack of the conversational engagement platform Gupshup, and the company is set to provide basic UPI feature support on feature phones. But the service mentioned that it will take a few quarters to provide UPI service in the country.

In a press release, the company announced that it has bought the intellectual property (IP) of Gupshup's proprietary GSPay technology stack. PhonePe will now customize this platform and build its own UPI solution on top of it. Let us tell you that Gupshup launched GSPay in 2023 as an SMS-based payment experience for feature phones.

PhonePe said that GSPay is built on the UPI 123Pay service of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which was launched in 2022 by the then RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das. Now the company will extend GSPay's technology stack and create its own UPI solution.