Paytm Said to Eye IPO by End of October: All We Know So Far

Digital funds agency Paytm expects to launch its preliminary public providing (IPO) at across the finish of October, pending regulatory approvals, a supply conversant in the matter stated on Monday.

Paytm, which has filed for a Rs. 16,600 crore IPO that may possible be the biggest ever in India, additionally expects to interrupt even in 18 months, the supply stated, declining to be named because the matter just isn’t public.

Paytm’s IPO plan comes at a time when a number of first-generation homegrown startups in India put together to go public on home bourses, led by meals supply agency Zomato which made a stellar inventory market debut final week.

“Hopefully Paytm will be able to go out before Diwali,” the supply stated, referring to the Hindu pageant of lights in November.

The startup, which counts China’s Ant Group and Japan’s SoftBank amongst its backers, narrowed its working loss to 16.55 billion rupees within the monetary yr to end-March 2021 from 24.68 billion a yr earlier than.

“Paytm is on the path to profitability now,” the supply stated. “If the company continues the way it is doing right now 18 months is quite reasonable, assuming there is no COVID-related impact to the business.”

Paytm declined to remark.

Launched over a decade in the past as a platform for cell phone topups, Paytm has grown rapidly right into a fintech agency providing companies together with insurance coverage, gold gross sales, financial institution deposits, remittances and film and flight ticketing.

Paytm’s on-line and offline funds and its lending enterprise are core focus areas for the corporate, however the agency additionally desires to capitalise on the rising alternatives in gaming, journey and ticketing and monetary companies resembling mutual funds and equities buying and selling, the supply stated.

The firm is pushing its funds {hardware} resembling point-of-sale machines and different gadgets to retailers, the supply stated, including Paytm’s software program, which helps retailers handle their operations, would even be a key enterprise over the subsequent three to 5 years.

Among different rivals, Paytm’s service provider funds enterprise will even compete with a mix of Indian conglomerate Reliance and Facebook’s WhatsApp, which have dedicated to creating digital funds simpler for India’s mom-and-pop shops.

© Thomson Reuters 2021

Disclosure: Paytm’s mother or father firm One97 is an investor in NDTV’s Gadgets 360.