PhonePe is one of India’s most competitive fintech companies. The interview process is structured around strong DSA fundamentals, clean machine coding, and fintech-scale system design. Each round is eliminatory.
Interview Process
Round
Focus
Duration
Details
Online Assessment
4 coding problems
90 min
1 Easy + 1 Medium + 1 Medium-Hard + 1 Hard (CF 1800+)
Round 1
Machine Coding (LLD)
90 min
Design patterns, SOLID, runnable code
Round 2
DSA
45-60 min
1-2 problems, brute → optimized
Round 3
HLD (SDE-2+)
45-60 min
Fintech-scale distributed systems
Round 4
Hiring Manager
45 min
Projects, leadership, culture fit
Key insight: PhonePe rejects candidates with correct logic but messy code. Write clean, named, modular code.
Most asked machine coding: Multilevel Cache and Dispute Resolution Service appear repeatedly (2023-2026). Recent reports show take-home format on CodeSignal (90 min, submit ZIP, then 30-min code review call).
DSA Problems Asked at PhonePe (Complete List)
💡 Every problem below is solved with clean Java, approach, and complexity here → PhonePe DSA Solutions
These are custom problems reported from PhonePe OA and interviews:
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Problem Description
Pattern
Year
1
Seat allocation: N seats, some occupied. For M queries, allocate seat maximizing distance to nearest person.
Binary Search / Heap
2024
2
Find three indices i,j,k such that A[i]A[j]A[k] is max with A[i] <= A[j] <= A[k] and i < j < k
Sorting + Greedy
2024
3
2D array (n x 2), find max path sum with strictly increasing values, pick one per row
Grid DP
2021
4
Minimum moves to convert string A to string B
Edit Distance variant
2021
5
People pass a test: score starts at 0, person passes if score > threshold, bound value added after passing. Maximize people passing.
Greedy + Sorting
2022
6
Matrix m x n, find max path sum from any element, can only move right or down
Grid DP
2022
7
Lexicographically smallest word from NxN matrix with K letter-change operations
DP + Greedy
2026
8
Balance coins in binary tree so every node has exactly one coin, minimize total moves
Tree DFS
2026
OA Pattern (Online Assessment)
PhonePe OA has 4 questions in 90 minutes on DoSelect platform.
Difficulty
Typical Topic
Solve Target
Q1 (Easy)
Arrays / Strings
Must solve
Q2 (Medium)
Binary Search / Sliding Window
Must solve
Q3 (Medium-Hard)
Trees + DP / Graph
Should solve
Q4 (Hard)
CF 1800-2000 rated
Partial credit OK
Solving 2.5-3 questions typically clears the OA.
Tips for PhonePe Interviews
Machine coding is make-or-break. PhonePe weighs the LLD round heavily. Practice writing clean, extensible code in 90 minutes with at least one Strategy pattern.
Show progression in DSA. Start with brute force, explain why it’s slow, then optimize. They evaluate your thought process, not just the final answer.
Expect fintech-specific deep dives. Idempotency, double-entry ledgers, reconciliation, and saga patterns come up in HLD rounds.
Concurrency follow-ups are common. After solving a DSA problem, they may ask “How would you make this thread-safe?” Be ready with synchronized, locks, or ConcurrentHashMap.
Code quality matters. PhonePe rejects candidates with correct logic but messy code. Use meaningful names, separate concerns, keep methods small.
OA is harder than interview rounds. The online assessment has CF-rated hard problems. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t solve Q4 completely.