PhonePe has announced a new initiative to strengthen its merchant network as part of efforts to expand digital payment adoption across India's rural areas and smaller towns. The company aims to hire over 20,000 frontline employees nationwide within the next year.

Supported by new labor codes, the company will be able to accelerate hiring and deploy approximately 5 million new payment devices, including smart speakers and POS terminals. Half of these devices will be installed in rural areas and Tier-6 towns.

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New MDR (Merchant Discount Rate) regulations and a dedicated fund for small merchants are helping to fast-track these investments. The company stated that this expansion would enable it to bring hundreds of thousands of small merchants into the formal financial ecosystem and provide them with access to services such as credit.