In the fierce battle for dominance in India’s digital payments space, BharetPe stands out for focusing exclusively on the legions of small retail merchants that form the backbone of the country’s economy but are largely underserved by banks. Ashneer Grover, the co-founder and chief executive of the one-year-old payments app, has hired over three thousand sales agents to hit the streets and sign up shop owners before big tech rivals Google and Walmart-owned PhonePe get to them first. BharatPe gives merchants a QR code that allows them to accept digital payments for free from any app operating on UPI, a payments system developed by the government that has seen meteoric adoption since its 2016 debut.