PhonePe is preparing for its first local market outside India after securing in-principle approval from the Central Bank of the UAE for two payment licences. The approvals cover Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes (RPSCS) and Stored Value Facilities (SVF), giving the Bengaluru-based fintech a regulatory pathway toward building a broader payments business in the Emirates.
The approval follows initial regulatory due diligence, but it is not yet permission to begin commercial operations. PhonePe still needs to complete the remaining requirements and receive final regulatory approval before launching its UAE services. That distinction makes the development an important expansion milestone rather than a full market launch.
Once final approval arrives, PhonePe plans to work with UAE banks, licensed payment service providers and local technology companies. It also intends to explore integration opportunities with Aani, the UAE’s domestic instant-payment system, and Jaywan, its domestic card scheme.
The strategy suggests PhonePe wants to become part of the local payments infrastructure rather than simply extend its Indian UPI product overseas.
PhonePe already has some payment connectivity in the UAE for Indian travellers. Through its partnership with NPCI International Payments Limited, users can scan supported local QR codes and pay through existing cross-border arrangements on NEOPAY and Network International terminals. The proposed licences would go further by creating a regulated local operating presence.
The UAE expansion also gives PhonePe a test case for exporting technology built at Indian scale. The company says it has more than 700 million registered users and a merchant network exceeding 50 million in India. If final approval is secured, the bigger test will be whether that infrastructure can translate into locally relevant wallets, merchant payments and other services inside a market that already has established domestic payment rails and financial institutions.
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