PhonePe plans 20,000 new hires to expand merchant network in rural India

According to Business Recorder, PhonePe said on Thursday that it intends to bring on 20,000 extra sales staff on its payroll within the coming year. The hiring drive is designed to widen its merchant base into smaller towns and villages across India.

Walmart backs the firm, which intends to equip its network with more than 5 million hardware units, among them smart speakers and point-of-sale terminals, in the next 12 months. The equipment is meant to bring digital payment acceptance to rural areas.

The timing follows NPCI's decision to levy a 0.4% charge on selected UPI merchant transactions, with part of the proceeds set aside for small merchants in underserved regions. PhonePe stated that the newly unveiled MDR framework lets it plan for the long term and put money into merchant growth. As of August, its network had more than 720 million registered users and over 50 million merchants.