India’s fintech gold rush to manifest in Paytm IPO next week

China’s transformation from a financial-technology backwater into a $46 trillion-a-year leader in digital payments left most international investors watching in awe from the sidelines. Now India is undergoing its own fintech revolution, and the race is on to grab a piece of the action.

As online payments and digital loans in the second-most populous country soar at some of the fastest rates worldwide, money is pouring into India’s fintech sector at an unprecedented pace. The sector’s sharp ascent will be on show this month as Paytm — backed by foreign heavyweights, including Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group Corp. — seeks a valuation of about $20 billion in what would be India’s largest ever initial public offering (IPO).