Paytm board gives in-principle approval for Rs 22,000 crore IPO

Digital payments and financial services firm Paytm has been making headlines for its intended initial public offering (IPO), touted to be one of India's biggest, surpassing Coal India's IPO. The board of the company was scheduled to meet on Friday to deliberate on the Vijay Shekhar Sharma-helmed company's IPO plans. Latest developments suggest that the board has given its in-principle approval for the Rs 22,000 crore IPO.

The IPO is scheduled to take place in the October-December quarter this year. The company is looking at an enterprise value of over Rs 2 lakh crore for the IPO, which is likely to be discussed at its board meeting scheduled for Friday.

"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," a source aware of the development told news agency PTI. Paytm is yet to make an official statement on the development.

Paytm's is expected to be one of the largest IPOs in India if the company is able to achieve its target.

Some of the company's bigwig shareholders include Alibaba's Ant Group (29.71 per cent), Softbank Vision Fund (19.63 per cent), and Saif Partners (18.56 per cent). Vijay Shekhar Sharma holds 14.67 per cent stake in the company. AGH Holding, T Rowe Price and Discovery Capital, Berkshire Hathaway also hold stakes in the company but that amounts to less than 10 per cent.

Led by founder and Chief Executive Officer Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm has been focusing on raising revenue and monetising its services over the past year. The firm has expanded beyond digital payments into banking, credit cards, financial services, wealth management and digital wallets. The company has tough competition from global players such as Walmart-owned PhonePe, Google Pay, Amazon Pay as well as Facebook-owned WhatsApp Pay in India.

Also read: Biggest IPO ever! Paytm could pip Coal India in largest market debut

Also read: Vijay Shekhar Sharma's Paytm eyes India's largest IPO debut in November