India-based fintech company PhonePe, backed by Walmart, is targeting a valuation of between USD 9 billion and USD 10.5 billion in its planned initial public offering (IPO), according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter cited by Reuters.
The IPO is expected to raise between USD 900 million and USD 1.05 billion. Both figures represent a reduction from the USD 12 billion valuation at which PhonePe last raised USD 100 million in private markets in 2023.
The offering will reportedly consist entirely of secondary shares, with no new shares issued by PhonePe. Walmart plans to reduce its stake by approximately 12%, while Tiger Global and Microsoft intend to exit their positions. The three firms will collectively sell around 50.7 million shares. PhonePe filed for its IPO in September 2025 and is aiming to complete the process by April 2026, though the timeline remains subject to capital market conditions. PhonePe, Walmart, Tiger Global, and Microsoft did not respond to requests for comment.
Scale and market position
PhonePe is among India's most widely used payment platforms, with more than 650 million registered users. In January 2026, the company processed nearly ten billion of the 21.7 billion transactions conducted on India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI), according to regulatory data. India launched UPI in 2016 and has prohibited companies from charging fees for the instant payment service, a policy designed to accelerate digital payments adoption but one that has kept margins in the sector structurally low.
If completed at the targeted valuation, PhonePe's listing would be India's second-largest fintech IPO, behind Paytm's approximately USD 20 billion listing in 2021. Paytm currently trades at a market capitalisation of USD 7.1 billion.
Investor sentiment and monetisation concerns
Portfolio managers who attended pre-IPO roadshows told Reuters that enthusiasm around India's fintech sector has moderated, with lingering questions around PhonePe's ability to monetise its large user base cited as a key reason the company may not achieve a valuation closer to its last funding round. One portfolio manager noted that active user growth has slowed, shifting the focus to upselling existing users, an outcome that remains unproven.
Additionally, a banker on the issue also indicated that investors view India's fintech market as crowded, with limited differentiation among competing platforms.
