Flipkart finally launches own digital wallet
Flipkart finally launches own digital wallet Flipkart, the country’s largest e-commerce entity, has launched its own digital wallet, PhonePe. This plugs a crucial gap in its payments game against rivals Snadeal and Paytm, backed by Chinese giant Alibaba. Flipkart says it hopes for over $1 billion (Rs 6,600 crore) in transactions by the year-end from this move. PhonePe is integrated with the new Unified Payment Interface (UPI), allowing users to directly transact from their bank account and not store funds in their mobile wallet. Flipkart had actually acquired PhonePe in April and then adopted UPI, which aims to make individual wallets irrelevant. Since then, it has redesigned the product and entered into a strategic tie-up with YES Bank, to convert PhonePe into a bank-backed wallet that allows users to do peer to peer transactions, buy goods or pay bills. “We have some very very aggressive plans right now,” said Sameer Nigam, chief executive officer of PhonePe, in a...