PhonePe eyes $1.5 billion IPO, draft papers likely by early August

Kotak Mahindra Capital, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley have been enlisted to manage PhonePe's IPO

PhonePe, India’s leading digital payments platform and a subsidiary of Walmart Inc, is preparing to file for an initial public offering (IPO) that could raise up to $1.5 billion. The move would value the fintech firm at approximately $15 billion, according to a report by Bloomberg.

 

The fintech aims to submit its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP), a preliminary filing required by Indian regulators, by early August. However, the plan remains fluid and subject to change, as the discussions are still ongoing.

 

To manage the IPO, PhonePe has enlisted the services of top investment banks, including Kotak Mahindra Capital, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley.

 

 

Founded in 2015, PhonePe has grown to become the dominant player on India's real-time payment system: Unified Payments Interface (UPI). The platform boasts over 610 million registered users and processes daily transactions worth around ₹340 million. In 2023, the company secured $100 million in funding from Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global Management, and TVS Capital Funds, with a valuation of $12 billion at that time.

 

UPI transactions hit a record high in May 2025, clocking 18.68 billion in volume and ₹25.14 trillion in value, marking a 4 per cent rise in volume and 5 per cent in value over April. Leading the pack, PhonePe processed 8.68 billion transactions worth ₹12.56 trillion, accounting for nearly half of the total UPI activity. Google Pay followed with 6.74 billion transactions and ₹8.85 trillion in value, while Paytm trailed with 1.27 billion transactions. Together, PhonePe and Google Pay handled over 80 per cent of UPI transactions. PhonePe maintained its dominance both in volume and value, strengthening its position as it gears up for an IPO.

 

PhonePe had originally been incorporated in Singapore but shifted its legal domicile to India in 2022. This move has been believed to be done in anticipation of its public filing in India.

 

Earlier this month, the company added Zarin Daruwala to its board. Daruwala, the former CEO of Standard Chartered Bank India, led the bank from 2016 and previously held senior leadership roles at ICICI Bank, where she oversaw the wholesale banking division.

 

PhonePe’s board features a mix of global and Indian business leaders, including Walmart executives John David Rainey, Donna Morris, and Leigh Hopkins; TeamLease Services vice-chairman Manish Sabharwal; former Indian bureaucrat Tarun Bajaj; PhonePe chairman Rohit Bhagat; and the platform’s co-founders Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari.

 

If successful, PhonePe’s IPO could become one of the largest market debuts by an Indian fintech company.