PhonePe may file DRHP for its IPO in August

Monday, June 23: PhonePe, the Walmart-backed fintech giant, is reportedly gearing up to file its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) by August 2025. The company is aiming to raise a significant $1.5 billion through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on Indian stock exchanges. This move is anticipated to value the company at approximately $15 billion.

Leading Investment Banks Onboard

PhonePe has enlisted a consortium of leading investment banks, including Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Morgan Stanley, to oversee the IPO process.

Strategic Indian Listing and Decade of Innovation:

This upcoming IPO is a big part of PhonePe’s plan to be listed in India. The company, which handles digital payments for Flipkart and is a financial services arm of Walmart, had previously mentioned it was preparing for a listing on Indian stock exchanges. This IPO is occurring as PhonePe celebrates its 10th anniversary, marking a decade of innovation in digital finance.

A key move for PhonePe was shifting its official headquarters from Singapore to India in December 2022. This change involved paying nearly ₹8,000 crore (about $1 billion) in taxes to the Indian government, showing their commitment to being a truly Indian fintech company listed here.

Who Owns PhonePe?

As of March 2024, PhonePe’s ownership included:

• FIT Holdings SARL (Walmart): 83.91%
• General Atlantic Singapore: 5.14%
• PhonePe Singapore Unit: 6.7%

They also have support from other well-known investors such as Microsoft, Ribbit Capital, Qatar Investment Authority, Tencent, TVS Capital Funds, Tiger Global, and Willoughby.

Strong Financials And Market Lead

In the financial year 2024 (FY24), PhonePe saw its revenue jump by 73% year-on-year, reaching ₹5,064 crore. Importantly, the company also became profitable (when you exclude costs related to employee stock options), reporting a profit of ₹197 crore compared to a loss of ₹738 crore in FY23.

PhonePe remains a dominant player in India’s digital payments scene. As of May 2025, it handled nearly half of all UPI (Unified Payments Interface) transactions, processing ₹12.56 lakh crore across 8.7 billion transactions. This means they handle about 50% of the total money transferred via UPI and 47% of the total number of transactions. They have a massive user base of over 610 million registered users and process more than 310 million online transactions daily.

What To Watch Out For?

PhonePe’s IPO will be an interesting one to watch, especially given the performance of other fintech companies like Paytm and MobiKwik after their listings. Paytm had a challenging debut, while Mobikwik started strong but has since seen its share price adjust.

With its solid financial performance, strategic move to India, leading position in the digital payments market, and backing from prominent investors, PhonePe’s $1.5 billion IPO is expected to be one of India’s largest tech listings in 2025. The fact that they’ve achieved profitability (even excluding certain costs) before their IPO could set a new standard for how investors view fintech companies in India.

Disclaimer:  At HDFC SKY, we take utmost care and due diligence in curating and presenting news and market-related content. However, inadvertent errors or omissions may occasionally occur.

If you have any concerns, questions, or wish to point out any discrepancies in our content, please feel free to write to us at content@hdfcsec.com.

Please note that the information shared is intended solely for informational purposes and does not make any investment recommendations