In a move aimed at cracking open the next frontier of digital payments, PhonePe has acquired the intellectual property rights to GSPay — a UPI-powered payment tech stack developed by conversational tech firm Gupshup. Designed specifically for feature phones, GSPay is built on the foundation of NPCI’s UPI 123PAY framework and allows users without smartphones to send and receive money.
With this acquisition, the Bengaluru-based fintech giant is gearing up to roll out its own UPI app tailored for feature phones — a market segment that still accounts for millions of users across India. The launch is expected in the coming quarters, and the company plans to layer GSPay’s core tech with new features and UI optimizations.
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The upcoming app will support key UPI functions — person-to-person transfers, QR code-based offline payments, and seamless receipt of funds via mobile number or self-generated QR. Crucially, PhonePe wants to make sure feature phone users can interact just as easily with smartphone UPI users, bridging the digital divide and enabling full-scale interoperability across devices.
“Millions of Indians still rely on feature phones, and they’ve long been left out of the digital payments story,” said Sameer Nigam, PhonePe’s Co-Founder and CEO. “By integrating GSPay into our ecosystem, we aim to make sure that even those without smartphones can tap into the speed, convenience, and safety of UPI. This is about inclusion, plain and simple.”
As India’s UPI network continues its exponential growth, PhonePe’s move signals a serious push toward capturing a user base that has remained largely unaddressed — until now. This could be the start of a new chapter in India’s payments story, where connectivity doesn’t require a touchscreen.
