PhonePe has paused its plans for an initial public offering, citing geopolitical tensions and instability in financial markets. The Bengaluru-based fintech said Monday that it remains committed to listing on public markets but will wait until conditions improve before proceeding with the offering.
The decision comes less than two months after the company filed an updated IPO prospectus targeting a listing on Indian stock exchanges later this year.
Market Turbulence Influences IPO Timing
Recent geopolitical developments have affected global financial markets and contributed to volatility in Indian equities.
Rising tensions in the Middle East have pushed oil prices higher and prompted investors to move away from stock markets.
India’s benchmark indexes, the Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex, have each declined roughly 9% over the past month.
Since the conflict began on 28 February, hundreds of Indian stocks have recorded double-digit percentage declines.
PhonePe said its decision to delay the IPO was related to these broader market conditions rather than internal factors.
“We paused the process only because of the current market conditions, which are unrelated to PhonePe,” a company spokesperson said.
The company also rejected claims that the decision was linked to changes in valuation expectations, describing those suggestions as “baseless.”
IPO Valuation And Investor Exit Plans
PhonePe was valued at about $12 billion in January 2023.
The company had been targeting a market capitalization of approximately $15 billion through its public listing, which could have raised up to $1.5 billion.
However, investment bankers involved in the process reportedly suggested lowering valuation expectations to around $9 billion, according to people familiar with the discussions.
The IPO was expected to provide liquidity for several early investors.
Tiger Global Management and Microsoft were expected to sell their entire stakes, according to the company’s IPO filing.
Majority owner Walmart planned to sell up to 45.9 million shares, representing about 9% of the company, while retaining control.
Growth Of India’s Largest Digital Payments Platform
PhonePe was founded in 2015 by Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari, and Burzin Engineer.
A year after its founding, the company was acquired by Flipkart.
PhonePe has since grown into the largest digital payments platform in India and a leading participant in the government-backed Unified Payments Interface ecosystem.
According to data from the National Payments Corporation of India, PhonePe processed about 9.3 billion transactions in February 2026.
Those transactions were valued at approximately ₹13.1 trillion, equivalent to about $141.9 billion.
By comparison, Google Pay recorded around 6.8 billion transactions worth about ₹9 trillion, or roughly $97.8 billion.
Business Expansion And Financial Performance
Flipkart separated PhonePe into an independent entity in 2022, though Walmart remained its largest shareholder.
While the company originally focused on digital payments, it has expanded into financial services.
PhonePe now offers stockbroking and mutual fund investment services and has introduced an Android app store positioned as an alternative to Google Play.
In the six months ending September 2025, PhonePe reported revenue from operations of ₹39.19 billion, or about $424.4 million.
That figure represented a 22% increase compared with the same period the previous year.
During the same period, the company’s losses widened to ₹14.44 billion, or approximately $156.4 million, compared with ₹12.03 billion, or about $130.4 million, a year earlier.
Featured image credits: Wikimedia Commons
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