Home
Apps
Apps News
Paytm Said to Eye IPO by End of October, Hopes to Break Even in 18 Months

Paytm Said to Eye IPO by End of October, Hopes to Break Even in 18 Months

Paytm has filed for a Rs. 16,600-crore IPO that will likely be the largest ever in India.

By Reuters | Updated: 27 July 2021 10:07 IST

Paytm Said to Eye IPO by End of October, Hopes to Break Even in 18 Months

Photo Credit: Reuters

Paytm’s plan for the IPO comes after many startups prepare to go public

Click Here to Add Gadgets360 As A Trusted Source

Highlights

Paytm plans to break even in 18 months
Its payments and lending business are its core focus areas
Paytm was launched as mobile phone topups platform

Digital payments firm Paytm expects to launch its initial public offering (IPO) at around the end of October, pending regulatory approvals, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Paytm, which has filed for a Rs. 16,600 crore IPO that will likely be the largest ever in India, also expects to break even in 18 months, the source said, declining to be named as the matter is not public.

Paytm's IPO plan comes at a time when several first-generation homegrown startups in India prepare to go public on domestic bourses, led by food delivery firm Zomato which made a stellar stock market debut last week.

Zomato's Stellar Stock Market Debut Sets Pace for Other Tech Listings

"Hopefully Paytm will be able to go out before Diwali," the source said, referring to the Hindu festival of lights in November.

The startup, which counts China's Ant Group and Japan's SoftBank among its backers, narrowed its operating loss to 16.55 billion rupees in the financial year to end-March 2021 from 24.68 billion a year before.

"Paytm is on the path to profitability now," the source said. "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."

How to Block Paytm, Google Pay, Phone Pe if You Lose Your Phone

Paytm declined to comment.

Launched over a decade ago as a platform for mobile phone topups, Paytm has grown quickly into a fintech firm offering services including insurance, gold sales, bank deposits, remittances and movie and flight ticketing.

Paytm's online and offline payments and its lending business are core focus areas for the company, but the firm also wants to capitalise on the growing opportunities in gaming, travel and ticketing and financial services such as mutual funds and equities trading, the source said.

Paytm Files Draft Papers for $2.2 Billion IPO

The company is pushing its payments hardware such as point-of-sale machines and other devices to merchants, the source said, adding Paytm's software, which helps merchants manage their operations, would also be a key business over the next three to five years.

Among other rivals, Paytm's merchant payments business will also compete with a combine of Indian conglomerate Reliance and Facebook's WhatsApp, which have committed to making digital payments easier for India's mom-and-pop stores.

Disclosure: Paytm's parent company One97 is an investor in NDTV's Gadgets 360.

Amazon's annual shopping extravaganza, Prime Day, is our focus this week on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.