PhonePe expands hardware footprint with 7 lakh cores across 3 data centres in India

Fintech major PhonePe has significantly expanded its hardware footprint by managing close to 7 lakh cores across three data centres in the country, it noted in its annual report. 

Cores are individual processing units within a CPU, enabling data centres to perform multiple tasks simultaneously and power large-scale computing operations.

By utilising its proprietary software stack to deliver infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), the expansion is aimed at enhancing its technological capabilities and supporting the firm’s growing user base.

“Today our hardware footprint covers close to 7 lakh cores under management across three different data centres in India, with our own software stack designed to deliver infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) to the rest of the technology organisation. This ensures that compute, storage and networking infrastructure along with the hypervisor for compute is managed centrally for efficient deployment and usage,” said the company’s annual report. 

As data centres consume enormous amounts of energy contributing to environmental impacts, PhonePe has built a large-scale alternative cooling data centre using Direct Contact Liquid Cooling (DCLC) and Liquid Immersion Cooling (LIC) technologies. 

This cooling system increases energy efficiency, reduces electricity consumption, and helps the company to lower its carbon footprint.

“Managing our own infrastructure boosts our ability to meet the dynamic control and audit requirements of any new regulated business that we enter with 100% confidence of being compliant,” reads the report. 

In addition to infrastructure expansion, PhonePe has invested in building dozens of in-house Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms over the years. For instance, "Login using PhonePe" service supports user authentication and profile management across all group assets. 

The ready-to-deploy plug-ins have enabled the company to launch new products and applications much faster than other players, at a reduced cost and lower time to market.

“Each of our SaaS capabilities has the potential to be externalised for the market. For example, “Guardian by PhonePe”—our in-house risk and fraud detection platform runs more than 3,000 crore evaluations daily, and now it’s being externalised as a licensed product for the global markets,” the company said. 

The Bengaluru-based firm further revealed in the report that around 60% of the workforce in customer service teams were laid off largely due to the adoption of AI-driven automation—from over 1,100 agents in FY19 to 400 agents in FY24. 

By investing heavily in artificial intelligence, PhonePe increased automated customer service issue resolutions by AI-driven chatbots by over 90%.

“This significant cost savings was achieved without compromising customer satisfaction in any way. In fact, our customer NPS has grown meaningfully every year over the last 5 years,” the company said. 

The fintech major reported a revenue of Rs 5,064 crore for FY24 (fiscal year ended March 31, 2024), up 74% from Rs 2,914 crore revenue earned in FY23. The company also achieved an adjusted profit after tax (PAT, excluding ESOP costs) of Rs 197 crore for FY24, compared with a loss of Rs 738 crore in the previous fiscal year.