New Delhi, Nov 19 (IANS): Merchant payment network BharatPe on Thursday said it plans to add another three million merchants to its existing list of over five million merchants by the end of fiscal year 2021.

Betting big on expansion, the company, that is currently present in over 35 cities, plans to substantially scale up its presence by adding another 30 cities to its list by December.

The announcement is in line with the company's commitment to become the preferred financial services partner for over 60 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in India.

"We are committed to create a well-rounded financial ecosystem for SMEs with our variety of products including payments, loans, gold and insurance. This decision to double our footprint in the country is in line with this," Suhail Sameer, Group President, BharatPe, said in a statement.

"We have handpicked cities that are either business hubs or emerging commercial centres, for this phase of expansion. We look forward to enabling millions of more businesses in the new cities we are venturing in," Sameer said.

BharatPe recently launched zero rental, zero fees card acceptance machine (BharatSwipe) in new cities.

The company said it will also be rolling out its interoperable UPI QR with zero transaction fees.