Paytm Gets Green Light from Regulators to Launch IPO

Paytm, an Indian fintech firm, has been granted approval from the domestic capital markets watchdog for its forthcoming $2.2 billion stock market listing. If plans go ahead, the listing is set to be the biggest ever initial public offering (IPO) held in India.

According to Reuters, the company has been planning to launch the IPO by the end of the month. Backers of the fintech firm include Ant Group, SoftBank’s Vision Fund, and Berkshire Hathaway. Due to the operating losses that it witnessed in the financial year that ended in March 2021 of around $221 million, it’s expected that it goes to break even in about 18 months.

The firm follows the path of other fintech companies like Zomato that made a successful debut in the stock market in July, with Ant Group as one of its backers. Paytm received a boost in its popularity and revenues after the private transport giant Uber listed the firm as a quick payment option among its offerings.

Moreover, the company diversified its portfolio by offering services like insurance and gold sales, movie and flight ticketing, among others. Ant Group has a 30% stake in Paytm, becoming the largest stakeholder to date.

Indian Fintech Sector Nowadays

Finance Magnates reported early this year that the Indian fintech sector attracted $647 million investment across 33 deals during the quarter, ending 30 June 2020. The country attracted $1.46 billion in fintech investments during the first half of 2020, which is a 60% jump compared to $919 million for the same period in 2019.

BharatPe, India’s leading fintech startup, raised nearly $108 million in Series D funding from several investors. The sector is growing exponentially in the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic and a major shift towards a cashless society. “FinTech has been known for their coming of age technology owning towards offering the most convenient and flexible options for consumers. It is not surprising that going forward, financial services will offer a customized and local offering to their customers using data analytics. The more and more advances in technology financial services adapt to upgrade their strategies, more growth in this sector is foreseen. This is just the beginning of a huge FinTech market in the upcoming decade,” RBSA Advisors stated in the report.

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