PhonePe Launches UPI Circle For Users To Manage Payments For Trusted Contacts

After Google Pay, PhonePe has now launched UPI Circle on its app, enabling primary users to manage payments on behalf of family members and trusted contacts.

UPI Circle allows users to generate their UPI ID without linking any bank account to it. This provides online payment solutions to users with limited digital payment facilities.

With this new feature, the primary user can add their family, friends or trusted individuals to the circle via UPI ID or QR code. After this, the primary user can authorise payments for the people in their circle from a distance and get complete control over the usage, PhonePe said in a statement. 

“The primary user retains complete control over the usage, including the ability to review payment requests, track secondary user expenses, get secure access to detailed payment records within each circle and delink access from their UPI Circle, as needed,” the statement added.

PhonePe’s chief business officer for consumer payment, Sonika Chandra, said,”Integrating UPI Circle into the PhonePe app, aligns perfectly with our vision of democratising digital payments and making financial services accessible to all. This innovative addition to the UPI stack offering simplifies shared expenses and empowers users to create trusted payment circles that streamline their financial interactions.”

Users can activate this feature via the PhonePe app.

Last year, Google Pay introduced UPI Circle on its app, along with other features including eRupi  and ClickPay.

It is pertinent to note that PhonePe and GooglePe collectively hold more than 80% UPI market share in the country.

As per the data by the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), PhonePe continued to lead the UPI race in March with 864.7 Cr transactions with a total value of INR 12.57 Lakh Cr. On the other hand, Google Pay recorded 659.6 Cr transactions in the month under review. 

The recent feature launch comes at the back of PhonePe preparing for its much anticipated market debut. In February, the fintech giant said that it is commencing preparatory steps in connection with its potential IPO.

On the financial front, PhonePe managed to narrow down its consolidated net loss by 28% to INR 1,996 Cr in FY24 from the INR 2,795 Cr loss it posted a year ago. Meanwhile its operating revenue zoomed almost 74% to INR 5,064 Cr in FY24 from INR 2,914 Cr in FY23.

Besides, the giant recently decided to exit its Account Aggregator (AA) business, citing inability to onboard a sufficient number of financial information providers (FIPs) to its platform.