PhonePe, the digital payments and financial services platform majority-owned by Walmart, has initiated the process to go public by filing draft IPO documents via the confidential (pre-filing) route. The company aims to raise roughly ₹12,000 crore through a pure offer-for-sale (OFS), according to multiple industry insiders speaking anonymously.
Key details & shareholders’ role
- The IPO is structured entirely as an offer-for-sale, meaning existing shareholders will liquidate part of their stakes, rather than the company issuing fresh shares.
- Walmart, along with investors Tiger Global and Microsoft, are expected to participate by selling a combined ~10% stake in the company.
- While PhonePe has officially confirmed that it has filed the pre-filed Draft Red Herring Prospectus (PDRHP) with SEBI, BSE, and NSE under Chapter IIA of the SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018, it cautioned that the filing does not guarantee that the IPO will eventually go forward.
Background & preparatory work
Earlier in 2025, PhonePe had enlisted Kotak Mahindra Capital, Citi, Morgan Stanley, and J.P. Morgan to advise on a landmark IPO, targeting a valuation as high as $15 billion (roughly ₹1,33,000 crore).
Legal counsel for the deal comes from Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, and Trilegal, while participating banks include Jefferies, Goldman Sachs, Axis Capital, and JM Financial.
PhonePe’s shareholder base already includes prominent backers such as General Atlantic, Ribbit Capital, TVS Capital, Tencent, and Qatar Investment Authority.
Financials & business expansion
In the fiscal year 2024–25, PhonePe reported revenue of ₹7,115 crore, marking about 40% year-on-year growth, and achieved positive free cash flow of ₹1,202 crore.
- Adjusted EBITDA (excluding ESOP costs) more than doubled to ₹1,477 crore, while adjusted net profit rose to ₹630 crore — a jump of roughly 220%.
- For the first time, PhonePe posted a positive adjusted EBIT (excluding employee stock-option costs), amounting to ₹117 crore.
PhonePe has broadened its portfolio beyond UPI payments, venturing into lending distribution, stock broking, insurance, and wealth products, along with consumer tech innovations like Pincode and the Indus Appstore.
As of March 2024, the firm claimed ~53 crore registered users, ~20 crore monthly active users, over 50 lakh net payment devices, and monthly transaction volumes exceeding 770 crore in count, totaling ₹10.5 lakh crore in value.
On the international front, PhonePe has tied up with partners in six countries — Singapore, UAE, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Mauritius — enabling UPI-based payments for Indian users traveling abroad.
Why the confidential route?
The pre-filing (confidential) IPO mechanism, introduced by SEBI in November 2022, allows companies to submit draft prospectuses privately — keeping key metrics, risk factors, and strategic data away from the public eye until closer to a final decision.
This gives issuers flexibility to withdraw or adjust the IPO plan without exposing sensitive information prematurely.
Many Indian companies — such as Tata Capital, OYO, Swiggy, and credible educational and financial firms — have used this method in recent years.
Reference is taken from here