Walmart to Cut PhonePe Stake in IPO as Tiger Global and Microsoft Exit

Walmart is set to reduce its ownership in PhonePe by around 12% as the Indian digital payments company moves closer to its highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO). According to updated draft papers filed on Wednesday, major investors Tiger Global and Microsoft also plan to completely exit their stakes in the fintech firm, marking a significant shift in PhonePe’s shareholder structure ahead of its market debut.

PhonePe, one of India’s largest digital payments platforms, competes directly with Google Pay and Paytm in the fast-growing Unified Payments Interface (UPI) ecosystem. The company recently received regulatory approval to proceed with its IPO after confidentially filing draft documents in September, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. PhonePe is targeting a stock market listing by mid-2026, according to earlier disclosures.

Walmart, which currently holds approximately a 72% stake in PhonePe, plans to sell close to 46 million shares through the IPO. Alongside Walmart, Tiger Global and Microsoft will fully divest their holdings, bringing the total shares offered for sale by existing investors to about 50.7 million. Notably, PhonePe will not issue new shares in the offering and will not raise fresh capital, as the IPO will be entirely an offer for sale.

The IPO comes at a time when India’s primary markets are experiencing strong momentum. In 2025, fundraising through IPOs reached record levels, with India ranking as the world’s second-largest IPO market after the United States. A total of 367 IPOs raised $21.8 billion during the year, according to data compiled by LSEG.

PhonePe continues to dominate India’s UPI payments landscape, commanding over 45% market share by transaction volume as of December 2025. The company reported more than 657 million registered users and served over 47 million merchants nationwide. Financially, PhonePe’s losses widened to 14.44 billion rupees in the six months ended September 30, while revenue increased by around 22% to 39.18 billion rupees.

The delayed rollout of UPI market-share caps in 2024 provided additional momentum for PhonePe and Google Pay, reinforcing their leadership positions. The IPO is being managed by leading investment banks, including Kotak Mahindra Capital, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Citi, Morgan Stanley, and Jefferies.