In the race to make Unified Payments Interface (UPI) a popular way to pay, PhonePe was the first to shoot right off the block when the whistle sounded. Within a week after the payment system was launched in August 2016, PhonePe was out with its app.

In these nine months, the young payments app has already come a full circle. An acquisition by Flipkart even before its product was out, a policy like demonetisation that tried to upend things for good, an ambush from unexpected competitors, and banks preying on the new at the slightest opportunity.

AUTHOR

Arundhati Ramanathan

Arundhati is Bengaluru-based. She is interested in how people use money in the digital age and how new economies will take shape based on that interaction. She has spent over 10 years reporting and writing on various subjects. Previous stints were at Mint, Outlook Business and Reuters.

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