PhonePe on September 2 announced Pulse, a data repository on digital transactions undertaken by its merchants and app users. The PhonePe Pulse website has an interactive map displaying a simplified broad-strokes of the data, but more granular data — right down to the PIN code level, according to the company — will be available through tools made available to developers and the government in the future, the company said. The company also released the Pulse Report, a 49 page study on digital payments over the past 5 years. PhonePe CEO Sameer Nigam said during a press conference that the data revealed some unexpected trends, such as many large metropolitan cities not being among the top ten cities by transactions (Nigam conceded that this may also be because of PhonePe not being as big as competing services in those places.) PhonePe tips the portal's launch as a tool for small businesses, and interestingly, regulators. While the company isn't completely on board with the government's Non Personal Data Framework proposal to require private businesses to share high level data like this with competitors and the government, the launch may pique the interest of regulators and competing businesses. PhonePe says it hopes other businesses share similar data, and depending on how this works out for the company (which has not yet gone public) it may be a test for the industry as a whole, depending on how in-depth the data is. "We bought in to open ecosystems" Nigam said in response to a…
