Fintech major Pine Labs plans overseas growth as IPO opens this week: CEO Amrish Rau

Fintech major Pine Labs, which is gearing up to float its initial public offering (IPO) this week, plans to expand its presence in global markets as a part of its growth strategy, its CMD and CEO B Amrish Rau said.

"We want to take our fintech platform global. We want to focus on select global markets, such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East, and intend to continue expanding and onboarding new clients in these markets," Rau told PTI.

Noida-based Pine Labs is a technology company focused on digitising commerce through digital payments and issuing solutions for merchants, consumer brands, enterprises, and financial institutions.

At present, its technology infrastructure supports digital transactions and payment processing in India as well as in 20 international markets, including Malaysia, the UAE, Dubai, Singapore, Australia, the US, and parts of Africa.

"By expanding our operations in these international markets, we expect to be able to scale our existing operations, strengthen our partnership ecosystem, and drive broader adoption of our product suite," he added.

The company generated operating revenue of Rs 2,274 crore in FY25, of which Rs 338 crore, or about 15%, was contributed by international markets. Revenue from overseas operations rose 28 per cent year-on-year, compared with Rs 1,769 crore in FY24.

Also, the company's 'adjusted EBITDA' (before ESOPs) stood at Rs 357 crore in FY25 compared to Rs 158 crore in the preceding year.

The company turned profitable in the June quarter, posting a net profit of Rs 4.78 crore compared with a loss of Rs 28 crore in the year-ago period.

"So basically, I am not worried about the profit aspects of the company," he said.

The fintech firm's Rs 3,900-crore IPO will open for public subscription on November 7 and conclude on November 11. Further, shares would be allocated to anchor investors on November 6.

The company has set a price band of Rs 210-221 per share for its IPO, targeting a valuation of over Rs 25,300 crore.

Notably, Pine Labs has trimmed the issue size from what was originally planned. As per the draft papers filed in June, the merchant commerce and payments platform was looking to mobilise Rs 2,600 crore via a fresh issue, with an additional OFS component of up to 14.78 crore shares by existing shareholders.

Speaking about trimming the IPO size, Rau said the debt reduction contributed to the company trimming the primary component of its maiden public offering. Moreover, investors had chosen to retain a larger portion of their shareholdings, which resulted in a smaller offer for sale.

Pine Labs' outstanding debt decreased to Rs 836.63 crore as of August 31, 2025, down from Rs 888.7 crore at the end of June 2025.

"I feel no pressure from the debt side, so we reduced the primary component of the IPO," he said.

On the valuation front, he said that the prices have been kept in such a way as to garner support from a wide range of investors, particularly retail investors, to ensure strong demand.

"When it came to the pricing of this IPO, we wanted to continue to garner goodwill, and we wanted to get everybody's support when we went out with this pricing for this IPO. We believe we were able to maintain that because, at the end of the day, it takes a village to come together to create a successful IPO," he said.

He also said that valuation reflects the company's strong growth and robust client line-up.

According to him, the top five Indian banks, top five retailers, top three quick commerce companies, and the top three online companies are all clients of Pine Labs.

The IPO comprises a fresh issue of shares valued at Rs 2,080 crore and an Offer for Sale (OFS) of over 8.23 crore equity shares worth Rs 1,819.9 crore at the upper end, by existing shareholders.

Under the OFS, Peak XV Partners, London-based Actis, PayPal, Mastercard Asia/Pacific, Temasek through Macritchie Investments, Invesco, Madison India Capital, MW XO Digital Finance Fund Holdco, Lone Cascade LP, Sofina Ventures S.A., and Pine Labs co-founder Lokvir Kapoor will be divesting their shares in the fintech firm.

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Of the fresh issue, Rs 532 crore will be used by the company to repay debt.

In addition, Rs 760 crore would be earmarked for investment in IT assets, expenditure towards cloud infrastructure, technology development initiatives and procurement of digital checkout points.

Also, the company will use funds to the tune of Rs 60 crore for investment in its subsidiaries, such as Qwikcilver Singapore, Pine Payment Solutions, Malaysia, and Pine Labs UAE, for expanding the presence outside the country.

According to the Redseer Report, the company was the largest issuer of closed and semi-closed loop gift cards in India by transaction value in FY25. It was also identified as the leading digital affordability enabler at digital checkout points, among the top five in-store digital platforms, and a key processor for Bharat Connect transactions during the same year.

In FY25, the company processed payments worth Rs 11.42 lakh crore in gross transaction value (GTV) across 5.68 billion transactions. As of June 30, 2025, its platforms were used by over 9.88 lakh merchants, 716 consumer brands and enterprises, and 177 financial institutions.

The company's customer base spans a wide range of sectors, including retail, e-commerce, lifestyle, consumer electronics, healthcare, travel, hospitality, and financial services, as well as public sector clients such as municipal bodies and traffic departments. It has long-standing relationships with several large brands and institutions, including Croma and HDFC Bank, with some partnerships extending over a decade.

The company, which competes with the likes of Paytm, Razorpay, Infibeam, PayU Payments, PhonePe in the domestic market and Adyen, Shopify and Block in overseas markets, will make its stock market debut on November 14.