PhonePe Goes Cardless: Pay in 190+ Countries?

PhonePe and Visa have teamed up so you can store your Visa card on PhonePe and pay at shops, online, and even abroad using just your phone — no physical card needed.

Here's what happened: PhonePe and Visa have partnered to let users store their existing Visa cards inside the PhonePe app for contactless, cardless payments.. The feature covers three channels: tap-to-pay at physical stores using NFC, online checkout at participating merchants, and QR-based payments for international travel.. No new card is required — any existing Visa debit or credit card can be linked, making this accessible to millions of existing Visa cardholders in India..

What you should do: Open PhonePe, go to Cards section, and link your existing Visa debit or credit card to enable contactless payments immediately.. Check if your bank's Visa card supports NFC — most cards issued after 2020 do; look for the contactless wave symbol on the card.. Before travelling abroad, activate the international usage feature on your Visa card via your bank's app to avoid transaction declines overseas..

Storing your card on PhonePe means the merchant never sees your actual card number during online checkout — a tokenised number is used instead, cutting fraud risk sharply.

For readers weighing their credit and loan options, our personal loan guide and CIBIL score resources put this update in context.