Paytm, the digital payments platform that everyone in India is familiar with, is already quite a bit of a royalty when it comes to fintech platforms in the country. And now, the company is looking to go for what could potentially become the largest initial public offering (IPO) in India, as it plans to sell new shares worth up to a mind-boggling ₹12,000 crore ($1.6 billion).
Paytm is looking for approval from its shareholders to sell $1.6Bn worth of stock at its IPO later this year, according to a company notice. An Extraordinary shareholder Meeting is being organized on July 12 at New Delhi for the company’s shareholders.
Meanwhile, Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma might also soon be stepping down for his post as promoter of the firm, and the matter is likely to be brought up during the meeting on July 12.
The firm, which is already backed by industry biggies like Japan’s SoftBank Group and China’s Alibaba, is also in ownership of the option to keep an oversubscription of a maximum of 1%, even as it sells its shares.
The news that Paytm is eyeing raising $3 billion through public listing was first reported by Reuters. To go ahead with the IPO, the startup has apparently already enlisted the services of a number of banks, including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, ICICI Securities, and Morgan Stanley.
Paytm, once a service that people feared to use due to inexperience with online payments, has emerged as the leader on India’s UPI and online transaction scene, ever since the demonetization gave a boost to digital payments. Moreover, during the ten years since its inception, the platform has regularly been incorporating new features and tools to its interface, in a bid to provide better services to users. Now, one can expect to easily find loans and gold sales on Paytm’s network, and making payments, be it at restaurants, movie theaters, eateries, rides, and whatnot, have become a cakewalk.
In March, it had been revealed that the startup was looking to go for an IPO. Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. holds the majority stakes in the firm, owning some 37% along with ANT Financial, its payments arm. Meanwhile, SoftBank owns about 20% of the entity’s shares.
