Walmart-backed PhonePe files for India IPO, targets mid-2026 listing

Walmart-backed Indian fintech firm PhonePe, the country's most used payment application, has filed for an initial public offering, the company's spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The application has been filed via the confidential route, which allows firms to keep their filings private until the public issue launches.

The firm is aiming to list by mid-2026, a source familiar with the matter said. PhonePe was last valued at $12 billion, when it raised capital from the private markets in 2023.

The source requested anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to the media. PhonePe did not respond to queries seeking details of the issue.

In an emailed statement, Walmart said that while PhonePe had commenced steps in connection with a potential listing in India and while the filing is one of many important milestones in the IPO process, it does not necessarily mean PhonePe will undertake the IPO.

INDIA'S BUOYANT MARKETS ATTRACT MORE LISTINGS

PhonePe's IPO plan comes against the backdrop of buoyant Indian primary markets, where fundraising is expected to surpass the record $20 billion achieved in 2024. Firms including LG Electronics' Indian unit and PayPal-backed Pine Labs are among those planning to tap the markets.

As part of PhonePe's IPO, existing investors including majority stakeholder Walmart, Microsoft and venture capital firm Tiger Global are expected to offload part of their shareholding, according to the source.

Details of how many shares may be sold by individual investors were not available. The IPO is set to raise around 120 billion rupees ($1.35 billion), according to a Moneycontrol report.

Walmart, Microsoft and Tiger Global didn't immediately respond to Reuters' queries.

PhonePe, founded in 2015, is the top payments platform on India's popular unified payments interface (UPI), with over 45% market share by volume. It processed 9.15 billion of the 20 billion transactions on UPI in August, according to data from the National Payments Corporation of India.

It has more than 600 million registered users and offers payments solutions for over 40 million merchants.

In a regulatory filing ahead of the IPO, PhonePe disclosed that its losses narrowed in the year ended March 2025 to 17.2 billion rupees. The company reported a loss of 19.96 billion rupees in the year ended March 2024.

Its revenue from operations rose 40% to 71.15 billion rupees.

Last year, India delayed the implementation of market share caps on UPI, in a boost for PhonePe and rival Google Pay.

($1 = 88.7380 Indian rupees)