India’s well-known fintech and payments company, PhonePe, is set to launch its IPO soon. To complete the process, the company has finalized four merchant bankers their names are: Kotak Mahindra Capital, JP Morgan, Citi, and Morgan Stanley. These bankers will make sure that the IPO process becomes seamless and smooth.

Post-IPO, PhonePe is expected to be valued at approximately INR 1.24 lakh crore. If everything goes as planned, we could see PhonePe filing its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) as early as the beginning of March.

IPO Plans and Financial Position

The IPO will include both primary and secondary share sales. The listing is set for the 2025-26 financial year, though final plans may shift based on market conditions. A senior industry source noted, “This could be one of India’s biggest tech IPOs. The company wants to attract investors by keeping some value on the table.”

PhonePe’s financials support its move to the public market. In FY24, revenue surged 73% year-on-year to INR 5,064 crore. Net loss fell from INR 2,795 crore in FY23 to INR 1,996 crore. The firm also reported an adjusted Profit After Tax (PAT) of INR 197 crore, recovering from an INR 738 crore loss the previous year.

PhonePe attributes these improvements to operational efficiency, automation, and cost control. In its annual report, the company stated that long-term growth depends on scaling revenue while keeping costs in check.

Walmart’s Role and Investor Backing

Walmart owns an 85% stake in the company. If we talk about the origin, PhonePe was initially a Singapore-based company. It shifted its domicile to India in 2022 with the intent of public listing. Recent trends show that the companies moved their headquarters to India before filing for an IPO. Till now, PhonePe has raised INR 18,000 crore from some big investors in the industry such as Walmart, Microsoft, General Atlantic, Tiger Global, Ribbit Capital, TVS Capital, Tencent, and the Qatar Investment Authority. The company’s last valuation was conducted in 2023, at that time it was valued at USD 12 billion.

Market Position

PhonePe dominates India’s UPI payments space with a 48% market share, followed by Google Pay at 37%. Regulatory changes could impact this lead—NPCI has set a 30% cap on non-bank UPI apps, but the deadline for enforcement has been extended to December 2026.

Beyond payments, PhonePe has expanded into financial services, offering insurance, lending, and wealth management. It has also launched ventures like Pincode and Indus Appstore.

The platform’s total user base stands at 53 crore, of which 20 crore are monthly active customers. PhonePe also reached a milestone of deploying 50 lakh net payment devices across the country. The company processes 770 crore transactions monthly, an amount aggregating to INR 10.5 lakh crore.

Global Expansion and IPO Timeline

PhonePe is also growing internationally. It has extended UPI services to six countries—Singapore, UAE, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Mauritius—enabling Indian travellers to make cross-border payments.

The company formally announced its IPO plans on 20 February 2025. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon confirmed the decision, stating that PhonePe has long aimed for a public listing. CEO Sameer Nigam had previously said that the company would only go public after achieving sustainable profitability.

Takeaway

PhonePe is dominating India’s fintech industry, and its growth highlights the efficiency of its growth strategy. PhonePe IPO could be a milestone achievement for the company. However, market response will decide how well the company transitions from a private player to a publicly traded firm.

One Mobikwik IPO is the most recent IPO from the industry which delivers 89.25% returns on the listing day. Paytm is the largest IPO from this industry which made its debut on 18 November 2021. However, Paytm IPO didn’t performs as the investors are expecting and closed in red with a loss of 27.44%.

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