Tap to pay made easy: PhonePe and Mastercard launch contactless payment feature in India
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu) : Amidst the growing popularity of contactless payments through smartphones among consumers, PhonePe and Mastercard have announced a partnership to launch a special feature for Mastercard cardholders in India.
This new feature enables Mastercard cardholders to make in-store payments by tapping their NFC-enabled smartphones on payment terminals using the PhonePe app. This collaboration is designed to provide a secure and seamless 'tap and pay' experience at physical retail shops, while also supporting tokenized e-commerce transactions through all NFC-enabled Android smartphones. Cardholders can easily save their Mastercard credit, debit, and prepaid cards issued in India on their smartphones and enjoy all the benefits of card-based payments.
By combining Mastercard's global expertise in tokenization with PhonePe's vast base of 618 million registered users, this launch expands access to digital payments in India and internationally. It reaffirms both companies' shared commitment to strengthening the country's rapidly growing digital economy. Deep Agarwal, Head of Payments, PhonePe, said, "We are delighted to collaborate with Mastercard to bring device-based tokenization to millions of PhonePe users. With the increasing penetration of NFC-enabled smartphones and growing consumer preference for 'tap and pay' using their cards, this functionality seamlessly connects the two."
Agarwal further added, "This enhances both convenience and security for users, enabling contactless payments at physical shops and secure online transactions through the PhonePe app. We consider this collaboration another important step towards providing a world-class payment experience to PhonePe users across India and while traveling abroad." Mastercard cardholders can now take advantage of several powerful features, including 'secure tap and pay' in-store payments, to make contactless payments at NFC-enabled terminals in India and abroad using the PhonePe app on Android smartphones. This provides a secure online shopping experience. Through the PhonePe app, people can shop securely with Mastercard cards; every transaction is tokenized and linked to your device, making stolen credentials useless elsewhere.
Saving your card just once enables fast and secure checkouts every time, leveraging Mastercard's global expertise in tokenization and PhonePe's seamless user experience. Ravi Datla, Senior Vice President, Product and Solutions, South Asia, Mastercard, said, "Mastercard has always believed in driving innovation. This collaboration with PhonePe is a significant step towards broadening the reach of digital payments by expanding device-based tokenization, empowering Mastercard cardholders to exclusively 'tap and pay' at merchant outlets both domestically and abroad. India plays a key role in setting the pace of digital commerce globally, and Mastercard is proud to support this momentum with solutions that make transactions smart and secure."
Users can securely add their credit and debit cards to the PhonePe app through a simple process. Once the card is tokenized and saved, they can seamlessly make payments and shop online by selecting the card and tapping their smartphone at any POS machine. This new feature will be available to Mastercard cardholders on the PhonePe app in a phased manner.