PhonePe adds ChatGPT features to app ahead of IPO

PhonePe has partnered with OpenAI to offer ChatGPT features to its users in India.

Users will be able to access ChatGPT within the PhonePe app, PhonePe for Business, and the Indus Appstore.

The integration lets users try out ChatGPT’s AI capabilities for tasks such as travel planning and shopping.

OpenAI said the collaboration aims to expand AI accessibility across India.

PhonePe is preparing for an IPO, with its draft prospectus filed confidentially with the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

The company is targeting a US$1.5 billion IPO at a valuation of about US$15 billion.

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

The announcement does not say if the PhonePe–OpenAI deal is exclusive or which Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) models are in play, which leaves investors unsure about how it stands apart before PhonePe’s targeted US$1.5 billion IPO at an approximately US$15 billion valuation.
It also skips details on user and merchant data handling under India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, and possible data residency rules from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) that may require storage and processing in India.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said OpenAI products for third parties will run only on Azure 1, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, so PhonePe may need Azure integration. Costs, revenue sharing, and pricing are undisclosed, which makes impact on margins hard to gauge as the company works toward profitability from a Rs 1,727 crore net loss in FY25 (FY means fiscal year).

As ChatGPT steers travel and shopping queries in PhonePe’s consumer app 2, online travel agencies and ecommerce brands plus aggregators (price-comparison marketplaces) not in the partnership can plug in through Switch. The in-app marketplace hosts merchant apps as Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) or mobile sites 3.
Developers should move fast to onboard via existing Switch integration 4. Embed UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) parameters such as utm_source=phonepe to track ChatGPT-driven traffic 5 and position your service as the handoff when users ask about travel or shopping in the app.