Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder and CEO of Paytm, went to the Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh to seek blessings ahead of the company’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) today. Paytm’s initial public offering, formerly known as One97 Communications, is India’s largest-ever IPO. In what has already been a record year for share debuts, the digital payments network hopes to raise over $2.5 billion (approximately Rs 18,527 crores).
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With its $1.3 billion (approximately 9,634 crores) share offering in July, food delivery firm Zomato was the country’s biggest IPO of the year till recently. Mr Sharma tweeted, “Just met Sh. Jawahar Reddy Executive Officer, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (#TTD) at Tirupati as I have come here to seek favour of God for every one of the @Paytm family,” with a photo of him with the temple trust’s executive officer.
The trust is in charge of temple operations and finances, including the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple in Andhra Pradesh, the world’s second wealthiest and most visited religious destination. Investors that are interested in bidding on a lot of six equity shares and multiples can do so. Investors in the higher pricing range will have to spend Rs. 12,900 for a single lot. The pricing range for each share has been set at Rs. 2,080 to Rs. 2,150.
Paytm will use the proceeds from the IPO for a variety of purposes, including “acquiring customers and merchants and giving them with increased access to technology and financial services.” It will also put money into new commercial endeavours, partnerships, and acquisitions, with the rest of the money going to other company purposes. In a country where cash transactions have historically dominated, the platform was established in 2010 and rapidly became associated with digital payments.
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It has profited from the government’s attempts to reduce the usage of cash, including the demonetisation of virtually all banknotes in circulation five years ago, as well as Covid’s recent initiatives. The firm has been losing money for a long time and may never be profitable. “We anticipate to continue to suffer net losses for the foreseeable future,” the prospectus stated, “and we may not reach profitability in the future.” Paytm’s cash flow has been negative over the past three years, owing to operating losses.
