PhonePe, a leading digital payments and financial services platform in India, is gearing up for a public debut. Owned by Walmart and headquartered in Bangalore, the company has filed confidential draft papers with India’s market regulator, SEBI, to raise $1.35 billion through a pure offer for sale (OFS). This method, introduced by India’s market regulator SEBI in 2022, allows companies to submit draft documents privately, giving them flexibility to test investor interest and regulatory feedback before going public. While the filing is the first step, it does not guarantee that the IPO will proceed immediately.
The move positions PhonePe among the most anticipated IPOs in India’s tech space and signals Walmart’s strategic monetization of its investment in the country’s fintech sector.
Salient points of the deal are:
- The IPO via a 100% offer for sale, means no new capital will be raised for the company itself.
- Major shareholders, Walmart, Tiger Global, and Microsoft will collectively sell about 10% of their stake.
- Walmart, which acquired PhonePe through its Flipkart deal in 2018, may begin realizing returns on its multibillion-dollar investment.
- The company is targeting a valuation of up to $15 billion at listing, making it one of India’s largest fintech IPOs ever.
- Investment banks Kotak Mahindra Capital, Citi, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan are advising on the IPO.
- With over 520 million users and dominance in India’s UPI ecosystem, PhonePe has expanded into insurance, lending, investments, and merchant services.
- This diversified model positions PhonePe as a compelling long-term play for investors interested in India’s fast-digitizing economy.
Founded in 2015, PhonePe has grown into India’s most widely used digital payments platform, commanding over 45% of the market share on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). In August 2025 alone, it processed 9.15 billion of the 20 billion UPI transactions. The platform boasts more than 600 million registered users and supports payments for over 40 million merchants.
The IPO filing comes at a time when India’s primary markets are booming, with fundraising expected to surpass the record $20 billion achieved in 2024.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
