UPI leader PhonePe's sprint is India's largest IPO since October! Valuation points directly to $15 billion Walmart Inc. (WMT.US) welcomes cashing out time

The two major supporters of the leading player in India's digital payment sector, PhonePe Ltd., namely the US retail giant Walmart Inc. (WMT.US) and the Wall Street investment giant Tiger Global Management, are planning to sell their stakes in PhonePe in what is expected to be the largest IPO in the Indian stock market since October last year. According to an updated draft red herring prospectus submitted to the Indian market regulator, Bangalore-based PhonePe plans to issue 50.7 million shares, all of which will be sold by existing major shareholders without any additional capital. Previously, sources indicated that the Indian company could raise up to $1.5 billion in the IPO, corresponding to an overall valuation of around $15 billion. Walmart Inc.'s Promoter WM Digital Commerce Holdings plans to sell up to 45.9 million shares, while Tiger Global and Microsoft Corporation Global Finance also plan to sell their shares in this large-scale IPO. This proposed large-scale stock offering would be the largest IPO in India since Tata Capital Ltd. launched a $1.7 billion offering in October, which was also the largest IPO in the country in 2025. In recent years, Indian companies have been flocking to the primary market for large fundraisings, and PhonePe's large-scale stock offering suggests that this IPO is more about providing liquidity for existing major shareholders, potentially setting a new trend in India's secondary market by offering capital exit mechanisms based on significant liquidity support. Who is PhonePe? Founded in 2015 by Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari, and Burzin Engineer, PhonePe competes fiercely in India's crowded digital payment market and has emerged as one of the leaders. The company particularly dominates the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) market in India, accounting for nearly 50% of all transactions. UPI is a digital payment system that connects commercial banks with fintech apps (such as PhonePe, Paytm, and Google Pay) to enable instant transfers between users. As of September 30, 2025, PhonePe's digital payment platform has 657.6 million registered users and processed 53.4 billion consumer transactions annually. In December alone, the company processed approximately 13.61 trillion rupees (about $149 billion) in digital transaction volume through UPI. The company has also expanded into stock broking and mutual fund investment through a subsidiary, and operates a popular digital payment mobile app store in the Indian market. Overall, PhonePe Ltd. is an Indian fintech company based in Bangalore, with its core product being a mobile payment platform (such as the PhonePe App) based on the Indian UPI system, backed by Walmart Inc.'s US retail giant through its subsidiaries. PhonePe Ltd.'s core business can be summarized into three main modules: payments and receipts (P2P/P2M) - using UPI technology for transfers, offline/online merchant payments (including QR code scenarios), extending to mobile recharges, bill/utility payments, and other high-frequency payment scenarios; financial services distribution (Wealth/Insurance, etc.) - developing insurance (e.g. health insurance, life insurance) and fund/asset distribution and services on the basis of digital payment flow; new business extensions - including stock brokering/investment platform Share(dot)Market, and the Indus Appstore (app store) for the Android ecosystem. Walmart Inc. - a key supporter of PhonePe An updated regulatory document shows that Promoter WM Digital Commerce Holdings (a key entity under Walmart Inc.) holds up to 71.77% of PhonePe, making it the most important driving force behind the accelerated expansion of PhonePe's digital payment business. They plan to sell up to 45.9 million shares, accounting for approximately 9% of the company's total shares. Tiger Global, the Wall Street asset management giant, plans to sell up to 1.04 million shares, while Microsoft Corporation Global Finance plans to sell up to 3.68 million shares. After Walmart Inc. spun off its digital payment business from Flipkart India Pvt Ltd. into a separate operating entity, Tiger Global invested in PhonePe for the first time in 2021 and participated in subsequent rounds of funding. PhonePe achieved a total revenue of approximately 39.19 billion rupees in the six months ending in September 2025, representing a year-on-year growth of about 22%. The company incurred a loss of approximately 14.44 billion rupees during the same period. Kotak Mahindra Capital Co., Axis Bank Ltd., and JM Financial Services Ltd., as well as large financial institutions from Wall Street such as JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., and Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s Indian local branches, are providing financial advisory services for this large transaction.