NPCI diversifies its ownership with share allotment to 19 new entities

Completes private placement of 4.63 per cent equity shares worth Rs 82 cr; number of shareholders rises to 67

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on Thursday said it has completed private placement of 4.63 per cent of its equity shares worth Rs 81.64 crore, in an effort to diversify its shareholding to a larger set of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)-regulated entities and categories of payment industry participants.

“NPCI made an offer for the private placement to 131 RBI regulated entities, out of which 19 evinced interest and were allotted shares in NPCI,” it said in a statement.

Following the private placement, NPCI now has 67 shareholders. “With this we have also broad based our shareholding to include new categories like payment banks, small finance banks, and payment system operators in addition to existing public sector, private sector, foreign, cooperative and regional rural banks” said Rupesh H Acharya, Chief of Finance, NPCI.

ICICI Securities served as the advisor for the private placement. Khaitan & Co, Mumbai served as the legal advisor to NPCI in this transaction.

At present, the top ten shareholders, all of which are large banks, hold 78.31 per cent of shares of NPCI. Among the top ten shareholders are banks such as State Bank of India, Union Bank of India, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, and private sector banks such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, HSBC Limited, and CITI Bank.

Many small finance banks and payments bank are also shareholders of the umbrella entity for retail payments in India. Furthermore, many payments industry participants such as PhonePe, Amazon Pay (India), and Pine Labs are also shareholders of NPCI.