Paytm to consider IPO after generating cash, likely post 2021: Vijay Shekhar Sharma

Paytm will consider listing on the stock exchanges only after 2021, when the financial services and e-commerce firm is expected to start generating cash, founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma said on Monday.

“The plan was always to start thinking of an IPO 2022 onwards. I have always wanted to go for an IPO (initial public offering) after the company starts generating cash,” Sharma said on the sidelines of the India Mobile Congress today.

Paytm’s losses for 2018-19 (Apr-Mar) nearly tripled to ₹4,217.20 crore from ₹1,604.34 crore in the year-ago period, according to the Noida-based firm’s annual report, Mint reported last month.

The company has changed its strategy in terms of discounts and cashbacks, and now provides ecosystem offers on Paytm Mall instead of giving just outright cashbacks.

As of now, Paytm’s e-commerce operations Paytm Mall, which was hived off in 2016, is adequately funded, and the company plans to use the money for expansion, Sharma said. “We have money in the bank, around $260 million in the bank. We will invest about $250 million in the Paytm Mall business.”

The online retail business under Paytm Mall have started gaining traction, especially in smaller cities.

Earlier this month, Paytm Mall senior vice president Srinivas Mothey told Mint in an interview that the company does not plan to start a bidding war with Walmart-owned Flipkart and US giant Amazon as that would involve burning billions of dollars in capital. Instead, the company would focus on leveraging Paytm’s 400-million userbase to grow its business, Mothey had said.