Walmart's PhonePe Gets Regulatory OK for Indian IPO

Company Overview - PhonePe, India's largest digital payments company, is reportedly closer to going public with its initial public offering (IPO) [1] - The IPO has received regulatory approval, and major stakeholders like Walmart, Microsoft, and Tiger Global are expected to sell part of their stakes [2] IPO Details - PhonePe filed preliminary documents for the IPO in September, aiming to raise up to $1.5 billion and achieve a valuation of approximately $15 billion [3] - The company has over 600 million registered users and provides payment solutions for nearly 50 million merchants [3] Market Position - PhonePe is a leading player in India's UPI payment system, holding more than 45% market share by transaction volume as of last month [4] - In August, PhonePe processed 9.8 billion out of 21.6 billion UPI transactions, according to data from the National Payments Corporation of India [4] Industry Context - The growth of PhonePe aligns with India's digital payments evolution, significantly accelerated by the introduction of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in 2016 and the demonetization initiative [5] - The digital payments journey in India has been ongoing for nearly two decades, reflecting a broader trend of mobile phone usage for transactions [5]