When Walmart acquired India’s poster child of start-ups, Flipkart in 2018 at a valuation of USD 20 Bn, little would have they imagined that an hitherto small vertical in the e-commerce company would witness one of the largest IPO openings in Indian history!
Back in the mid-2010s, over 70% of door deliveries in India were being fulfilled by cash (CoD – Cash on Delivery) even as Indians were weary to pay before-hand.
Thus, was born the idea of PhonePe within the confines of Flipkart’s war room during the “Big Billion Day” sales when the number of deliveries grew 2-3x, thanks to deep discounts, enchanting promotions and offers.
In April 2026, Walmart-owned PhonePe was planned a mega IPO, which is primarily an OFC – Offer for Sale at a likely valuation of INR 13, 786 Cr (USD 1.5 Bn).
PhonePe has a market share over 49% in India, with other players such as Google Pay, PayTM, UPI offering by banks, sharing the rest.
For FY 2025, the company’s revenue was INR 7,114, a growth of 40% from INR 5,064 over the previous year.
Employee expenses contributed over 50% to its total expenditure, at INR 9,394 Cr.
For H1 FY 26, revenues rose to INR 4,174 Cr, from INR 3,918 Cr for the same period a year ago.
Editor’s Note
While the ongoing West Asia war involving Iran on one side and the US and its allies on the other, several business initiatives have taken a backseat, given that the severity of war’s impact is yet to be gauged.
On the other hand, PhonePe has garnered its market share meticulously over the years, with millions of man-hours of relentless ground execution.
Pre-Covid, the company had to deploy feet on street to encourage shopkeepers and merchants to use digital payments. This was on the back of Demonitisation measures undertaken by the Modi-Government in 2017.
However, the tables turned in favour of Phonepe after the Covid-19 lockdowns were lifted, even as shoppers were weary of exchanging currency notes, for fear of the infection spreading.
The rest, as they say is history. but for the ongoing war, Phonepe would have created a mark not only for an IPO-debut, but also for leading the payments revolution in the world with billions of transactions being processed at merchant establishments everyday.
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