India’s biggest IPO yet: Why the biggest gainer is not Paytm founder but investor Alibaba

NEW DELHI: One97 Communications, the owner of Paytm, which is India’s leading digital ecosystem with over 317 million users, is all set to come out with an initial public offer ( IPO) on November 8, valuing the company at $19.3–19.9 billion. Paytm was last valued at $16 billion in 2019 when it raised $1 billion from investors. The company plans to raise Rs 18,300 crore ( $2.4 billion). This would be India’s largest IPO to date, surpassing Coal India’s Rs 15,745 crore public issue raised in October 2010.

Paytm is currently India’s leading digital ecosystem for consumers and merchants, with over 337 million registered consumers and over 21.8 million registered merchants as of June 30, according to a report by Redseer management consulting company. The company has increased its IPO size by Rs 1,700 crore from the earlier estimate of Rs 16,600 crore, since existing shareholders including Alibaba’s Ant Financial and Softbank want to sell more stake.