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Updated May 28th, 2021 at 06:27 IST

Paytm targets $3 billion IPO, likely largest ever debut for India: Report

India’s leading digital payments provider Paytm is aiming to raise about Rs 21,800 crore ($3 billion) in an IPO, making it the country’s largest debut ever.

Reported by: Gloria Methri
PTI
PTI | Image:self
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India’s leading digital payments provider Paytm is aiming to raise about Rs 21,800 crore ($3 billion) in an Initial Public Offering (IPO) later this year, making it the country’s largest debut ever. The start-up, backed by investors including Berkshire Hathaway Inc, SoftBank Group Corp. and Ant Group Co, plans to list in India around November and its offering could come up during the Diwali season.

Paytm, formally called One97 Communications Ltd, is targeting a valuation of around $25 billion to $30 billion and the One97 board plans to meet on May 28 to formally approve the IPO. If successful, Paytm’s initial share sale would surpass the offering of Coal India Ltd, which raised more than Rs 15,000 crore in 2010 in the country’s largest IPO so far.

Banks that have been shortlisted to run the Paytm offering include Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Among these, Morgan Stanley is the leading contender. The process may start rolling in late June or early July.

The public market debut will include a mix of new and existing shares to meet regulatory obligations in the country. India’s regulations require that 10% of shares are floated within two years and 25% within five years.

Paytm expands beyond digital payments

Paytm, led by founder and Chief Executive Officer Vijay Shekhar Sharma, has been aiming to ramp up revenue and monetize its services over the past year. It has expanded beyond digital payments into banking, credit cards, financial services, wealth management and digital wallets. It also supports India’s financial payments backbone, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

Paytm has faced stiff competition from a swath of global players including Walmart Inc-owned PhonePe, Google Pay, Amazon Pay as well as Facebook-owned WhatsApp Pay. The start-up has the biggest market share of India’s merchant payments.

Paytm has over 20 million merchant partners and its users make 1.4 billion monthly transactions. In a recent conversation, CEO Sharma said Paytm had its best-ever quarter in the first three months of this year after pandemic-related spending spurred digital payments.

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Published May 28th, 2021 at 06:27 IST

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