Flipkart acquires payments venture PhonePe: Report

Flipkart has acquired PhonePe Internet, a payments start-up started by three of its former senior executives, reports  The Times of India. Details regarding the deal have not been disclosed. PhonePe was launched in December by Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari, former senior leaders who recently left Flipkart, and Burzin Engineer, also a former Flipkart executive. The company is reportedly building a product based on the new unified payments interface (UPI) of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). According to the report, UPI is slated to go live in April and will allow users to transact from their smartphones, by just using their unique identification number (Aadhaar), mobile phone number or a virtual payment address. In addition, there is no need to enter any bank account details. The company currently houses 15 employees. PhonePe is Flipkart’s third major acquisition in payments. At the moment, the current leaders in payments are Paytm, Freecharge followed by smaller firms such as Oxigen Services and One MobiKwik Systems. Recently, a report had surfaced online which states that online e-commerce giant Flipkart was considering selling itself to Amazon! However, a Flipkart spokesperson reached out to tech2 and stated, “The report is pure fiction and seems to have been constructed based on invisible sources that have highly imaginative minds and given to improbable flights of fancy. There have been no talks or discussions for potential sale. Flipkart continues to be the market leader in India and we are in this business for the long haul.”