PhonePe announced plans to hire more than 20,000 frontline sales personnel over the next year as part of its aggressive expansion strategy. The fintech company will also deploy more than 50 lakh payment devices over the next 12 months, including SmartSpeakers and POS devices. According to reports from PTI, approximately 50 per cent of these devices will be deployed in rural India, taking digital payment acceptance deeper into Tier-6 towns and rural geographies. The announcement was made on Thursday as part of the company's accelerated merchant network expansion plans. These employees will have a direct role in building PhonePe's merchant network, including finding new merchants, completing KYC processes, installing payment devices and helping shopkeepers use digital payment services.
The expansion is being supported by the recently announced MDR framework that allows the company to take a long view and invest in merchant expansion. As reported by PTI, initiatives like a dedicated fund using 5 per cent of the MDR amount collected earmarked for small merchant expansion are further catalysing these investments, especially in deep rural geographies including tier-6 towns and villages. The new labour codes introduced last year are also enabling the company to hire faster with streamlined compliances, helping onboard a large on-roll employment workforce seamlessly. The company emphasizes that India has built one of the world's largest digital payments ecosystems, with the next phase requiring continued investment in merchant acceptance infrastructure.
According to PTI, PhonePe's planned expansion is aimed at enabling small businesses in every part of the country to participate in the digital economy. A significantly larger frontline on-roll workforce will enable PhonePe to reach merchants in smaller towns and villages, onboard them onto digital payments, complete KYC, deploy payment devices and provide ongoing merchant support. The expansion will help bring lakhs of small merchants further into the formal financial ecosystem, with a digitally active and KYC-compliant merchant network creating greater visibility into business activity and enabling eligible merchants to access a wider range of formal financial services, including credit offered by lending institutions. The company's focus on rural India could also create more employment opportunities in smaller towns, with thousands of merchants expected to receive support as they join or expand their use of digital payment services.
