Paytm's Rs 18,300-crore IPO opens today; here's all you need to know

Paytm’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Rs 18,300 crore opens for subscription today, 8 November. The IPO by the company’s parent One97 Communications is expected to be the biggest public issue in the country and will end on 10 November. The price band of Paytm shares has been fixed at Rs 2,080 to Rs 2,150 per share. Investors need to bid in the lot of six and its multiples, meaning that a minimum investment of Rs 12,840 is needed to get a single lot of the offer. Paytm’s IPO includes Rs 10,000 crore worth of shares as an offer for sale (OFS) by existing shareholders as well fresh issue worth Rs 8,300 crore. The allotment is expected to be finalised by 15 November and listing by 18 November. In the grey market, the Paytm shares have slipped to Rs 62 today, according to Mint. The company plans to use the proceeds from its IPO to acquire new customers and merchants as well as grow its business lines. Paytm was launched as a platform for mobile recharging but grew exponentially after the 2016 demonetisation. Since its launch a decade ago, the company has also branched out to services such as insurance, bank deposits and remittances, and booking flight and film tickets. It is presently the largest payments platform in the country with a Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) of Rs 4 lakh crore in the financial year 2021. It offers various financial services to over 2.2 crore merchants and 33.7 crore consumers as of June this year. Paytm has already raised Rs 8,235 crore from anchor investors before its IPO, which includes the sovereign wealth funds of Singapore and Abu Dhabi, BlackRock Global Funds, and CPPIB. The IPO will open with Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the company’s managing director and CEO, offloading shares worth Rs 402.65 crore or $53.94 million. The company’s top investor Ant Financial is also expected to sell its stake in Paytm, worth $643 million. Paytm’s IPO is likely to be the biggest issue in India’s history, breaking a decade-long record by Coal India Ltd, which raised over Rs 15,200 crore in its IPO.