PhonePay receives international recognition: Secures in-principle approval for UAE
PhonePe, India's largest digital payments platform, has taken a significant step in its international expansion by securing in-principle approval (IPA) from the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) for two payment licences — Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes (RPSCS) and Stored Value Facilities (SVF). This marks the company's first international regulatory approval and paves the way for its entry into the UAE market. The approvals follow completion of the CBUAE's initial regulatory due diligence process.
Announced on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, from Bengaluru and Dubai, the clearance is a preliminary milestone rather than a final green light. PhonePe is now working with Emirati regulators to satisfy the remaining requirements needed to secure final approval before launching commercial operations.
Ritesh Pai, CEO and Executive Director of International Payments at PhonePe, framed the UAE's regulatory environment as well-suited to the company's overseas ambitions, tying the move to combining PhonePe's technology with local partnerships to support trade corridors linking the UAE, India and global markets. Once fully licensed, the company plans to work with regional banks, licensed payment service providers and local technology firms to support the UAE's cashless economy, and the strategy is explicitly aligned with the UAE's Financial Infrastructure Transformation (FIT) programme.
A key part of the plan is technical integration: PhonePe intends to explore support for the UAE's domestic payment systems, Aani and Jaywan, through its existing technology platform, which already handles high transaction volumes for more than 700 million registered users and 50 million merchants in India.
PhonePe already has a foothold in the UAE through NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), which lets Indian travelers make QR-based payments at NEOPAY and Network International terminals — this new approval extends that presence toward full domestic operations. Notably, Chinese fintech giant Ant International secured the same two CBUAE licence types in 2025, suggesting the UAE is becoming a competitive entry point for major Asian digital payment players.
