Paytm board grants in-principle approval for around Rs 22,000 Cr IPO

Digital payments and financial services firm Paytm has received in-principle approval from the company's board to raise around Rs 22,000 crore through an initial public offer (IPO) during the October-December quarter this year, according to an industry source.

The company is looking at an enterprise value of over Rs 2 lakh crore for the IPO.

"The board of directors of Paytm has given in-principle approval for the mega IPO planned to be launched in October-December quarter. The company expects to raise around Rs 21,000-Rs 22,000 crore from the IPO. This will also give some of the existing investors to offload some of their stake," the source aware of the development told PTI.

The board meeting of the company was held on Friday.

ALSO READ

Paytm to raise $3B in planned IPO, the country's biggest listing ever: source

When contacted, Paytm spokesperson declined to comment.

It is likely to be one of the largest IPOs in India if the company is able to achieve the target as per its plan.

Paytm shareholders include Alibaba's Ant Group (29.71 percent), SoftBank Vision Fund (19.63 percent), Saif Partners (18.56 percent), and Vijay Shekhar Sharma (14.67 percent).

AGH Holding, T Rowe Price, Discovery Capital, and Berkshire Hathaway hold less than 10 percent stake in the company.

Paytm claims to be around 30-50 percent larger than its rivals in the segment, with over 1.4 billion monthly transactions.

The company had reported narrowing of loss by 40 percent and an increase in revenue to Rs 3,629 crore on a year-on-year basis in the fiscal year 2019-20.

In another development earlier, Paytm said it aims to raise about $3 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) scheduled for later this year, a source familiar with the matter told YourStory.

The IPO could value the digital payments provider at around $25-30 billion, and is likely to take place in November, they added, requesting not to be named. Paytm declined to comment on the story.

Investment banks, including Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan, are in the running to help with the much-awaited IPO, the source said, although the process is not slated to start until around the end of June.

(Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context)