PhonePe Pauses IPO Process Temporarily Amid Geopolitical Uncertainty

Indian digital payments giant PhonePe has announced it is temporarily halting its initial public offering (IPO) process, citing ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, especially in the wake of the conflict in the Middle East, according to a document viewed by NDTV Profit.

"We sincerely hope for a swift return to peace in all the affected regions. We remain committed to a public listing in India," PhonePe's CEO Sameer Nigam on the decision to pause the IPO process.

PhonePe further confirmed that it will resume its IPO process once the ongoing geopolitical issues subside.

This development comes just weeks after PhonePe secured regulatory approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and filed its updated draft red herring prospectus.

The highly anticipated IPO, which was set to be entirely an offer-for-sale by existing shareholders, including Walmart, Tiger Global, and Microsoft, was targeting a valuation between Rs 86,500 and Rs 97,500 crore.

PhonePe is currently one of the major players in India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) ecosystem with millions of registered users. Its debut was expected to be one of the largest fintech listings in a long time. However, the broader Indian market has faced tremendous pressure stemming from the Middle East conflict, which has put upward pressure on oil prices and has led to foreign investors moving out of India.

This trend has weighed heavily on the IPO market, which has witnessed tepid listings so far this year, with six of the ten issues listing below the issue price. The average return of these listings has been around 2%. This compares to early 2025 IPOs, which, on average, delivered listing gains of around 16.5%.