Walmart-backed PhonePe has filed confidentially for a domestic IPO of roughly ₹12,000 crore ($1.35–1.5bn). It isn’t just another listing. It’s the first real-time stress test of whether India’s zero-MDR, state-subsidised payments model can support public-market expectations—without breaking the rails or the unit economics.
The filing is fresh. The questions are older.
On 24 September 2025, Reuters and Indian business dailies reported that PhonePe submitted draft papers via SEBI’s confidential route—an increasingly common way to engage with regulators and anchor investors before publishing a full DRHP. The targeted raise (about ₹12,000 crore) implies a mid-teens billion-dollar valuation—reasonable against prior chatter of a $15bn print.
