Walmart-backed PhonePe files confidential draft for Rs 12,000 crore IPO

New Delhi: PhonePe, the Walmart-backed fintech powerhouse, has taken a major step toward going public by confidentially filing draft papers for an initial public offering (IPO) worth approximately Rs 12,000 crore (about $1.5 billion). 

The filing was submitted to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), BSE Limited, and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited via the confidential pre-filing route under Chapter IIA of the SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018. 

This move positions PhonePe to potentially list on Indian bourses later this year, though the company emphasised that the submission does not guarantee the IPO will proceed.

The IPO is structured as an offer-for-sale (OFS), with major shareholders including Walmart, Tiger Global, and Microsoft expected to offload around 10% of their stakes. 

Walmart, which holds an 83.9% ownership in PhonePe, acquired its controlling interest through the 2018 purchase of Flipkart. Other key investors include General Atlantic (5.14% stake), Ribbit Capital, TVS Capital, Tencent, and Qatar Investment Authority. The syndicate of investment banks handling the issue features prominent names such as Kotak Mahindra Capital, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Axis Capital, and JM Financial.

If successful, the listing could value PhonePe at around $15 billion, a step up from its last private valuation of $12 billion in 2023. This would make it one of India's largest fintech IPOs, testing investor appetite for high-growth tech firms amid a wave of domestic listings by startups like Groww, Physics Wallah, and Boat.

PhonePe relocated its domicile from Singapore to India in October 2022, separating from Flipkart and aligning for a local listing. To date, it has raised over $1 billion in funding.

PhonePe faces stiff competition in India's digital payments landscape from players like Google Pay, Paytm (One97 Communications), and MobiKwik. 

The confidential filing allows PhonePe to keep details under wraps until SEBI provides observations, after which the company has 18 months to proceed. This route has become popular among Indian startups seeking to navigate regulatory scrutiny discreetly before tapping public investors.