The Emirates’ largest expat group will soon pay bills the way they did back home. PhonePe, India’s biggest payments app, won approval from the UAE Central Bank to launch in the country, the Walmart-backed company’s first move abroad. It will offer payments, remittances, and money management to the UAE’s 4.3 million Indian residents.
The UAE fintech industry is projected to nearly double by 2029, after drawing in a third of all startup funding in the country in 2024. The central bank has been licensing digital wallets at a clip, including Careem Pay, e& money, Botim, and buy-now-pay-later firm Tabby. With expatriates making up nearly 90% of the UAE’s population, remittances are a prize worth billions. UAE residents sent India more than $21 billion last year, nearly a fifth of India’s total remittances and second only to the US.