Flipkart-owned UPI-based payments platform PhonePe has entered into a strategic partnership with leading Wallet player FreeCharge, enabling its 45 million users to link their existing FreeCharge wallets to the PhonePe app. Once linked, PhonePe customers will be able to spend their FreeCharge wallet balance at all online and offline merchant outlets that accept the PhonePe payments container.
In order to pay via FreeCharge on PhonePe, customers can link FreeCharge from 'My Account>Other Wallets' section. FreeCharge will show up on the customers’ and merchants’ app at the PhonePe payment path. Customers can choose to use their FreeCharge balance along with the PhonePe wallet balance/other instruments for payments.
“We are delighted to partner with FreeCharge and offer our customers the option of using their FreeCharge wallet inside the PhonePe app. This is in line with our vision of making PhonePe India’s first truly open payments platform, where customers can use any and all payment instruments of their choice,” Hemant Gala, Head Banking Products & Strategic Partnerships, PhonePe said in a statement.
FreeCharge customers will also be able to recharge and pay bills and shop at various offline and online stores that PhonePe has tied up with.
Sangram Singh, CEO, FreeCharge said, “We are excited by this partnership which enables FreeCharge customers to shop at various offline and online partners that PhonePe has tied up with, especially at popular online shopping destinations such as Flipkart, Myntra, eBay and Jabong. This will help further the use of digital payments and provide more options to our customers.”
PhonePe is currently live across more than 60 thousand online and offline merchants including MakeMyTrip, PVR, Cleartrip, 1mg, FreshMenu, Faasos and Abhibus and most national offline chains like Café Coffee Day, Apollo Pharmacy, KFC, Barista, Spencer’s, FoodWorld etc.
FreeCharge, which was earlier owned by Snapdeal, was recently bought over by Axis Bank for around $60 million