Walmart has announced plans to lower its roughly 72% ownership stake in PhonePe by selling nearly 46 million shares as part of the Indian payments company's much-anticipated initial public offering (IPO). Alongside Walmart's partial divestiture, investor groups Tiger Global and Microsoft have signaled intentions to completely exit their holdings in the firm. Updated draft filings dated Wednesday reveal that these three major shareholders will collectively offer around 50.7 million shares in the offering.
PhonePe, a prominent competitor to platforms such as Google Pay and Paytm within India’s digital payments landscape, secured regulatory approval to proceed with its stock market debut following a confidential IPO filing last September. Sources indicate the company targets a listing by mid-2026.
It is notable that PhonePe itself will not issue any new shares in the IPO, meaning the firm will not receive proceeds from the sale of existing shares by these investors. This marks a strategic exit opportunity for key stakeholders seeking liquidity.
The forthcoming IPO arises during a period of vigorous activity in Indian capital markets. Fundraising through IPOs reached record highs in 2025, with the country standing as the second-largest primary market globally after the United States. Data compiled by the London Stock Exchange Group highlights that India recorded 367 IPOs raising a total of $21.8 billion throughout 2025.
PhonePe enjoys a commanding position in India’s unified payments interface (UPI) system, holding over 45% market share by transaction volume as of December 2025. Despite this dominance, financial filings indicate the company experienced a widening net loss, increasing to 14.44 billion rupees ($157.80 million) for the six-month period ending September 30, up from 12.03 billion rupees during the previous year. Meanwhile, revenue grew approximately 22% year-over-year, reaching 39.18 billion rupees.
The payment platform reportedly has more than 657 million registered users and serves over 47 million merchants, underscoring its extensive presence in India’s digital payments ecosystem.
Further market dynamics in 2024 saw Indian regulators delay the implementation of market-share caps on UPI transactions. This postponement benefited PhonePe along with its peer Google Pay, both of which maintain dominant roles within the payments platform sector.
Prominent investment banks will manage the IPO, with Kotak Mahindra Capital, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Citi, Morgan Stanley, and Jefferies named among the book-running lead managers.