By Nishit Navin
BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian fintech firm PayNearby plans to launch an initial public offering in the next financial year to fund expansion, its chief executive said on Thursday, making it the latest to target a red-hot market that raised record sums in 2024.
India was the world’s second-biggest IPO market after the United States in the first half of 2025, accounting for 12% of total proceeds globally, LSEG data shows.
“We have met three merchant bankers and are in the process of identifying the one to go ahead with for the IPO. Then we will begin the process of filing the draft red herring prospectus,” CEO and Managing Director Anand Kumar Bajaj said in an interview.
Indian fintech giants such as Paytm, PhonePe and BharatPe dominate the market with payments and lending, but PayNearby takes a different route by building a vast network of neighborhood retailers to deliver digital services.
The company provides financial services to retail stores, thereby enabling them to offer cash withdrawal, remittance, bill payment and other services to their local communities and expects revenue to grow about 10% in the current fiscal year.
It reported gross revenue of about 3 billion rupees ($34.9 million) and profit of 120 million rupees in the year ended March 2025.
PayNearby, which has partnered with 1.2 million retailers, plans to add 500,000 more to that network over the next two years, Bajaj said. It also aims to hire around 550 to 600 employees by the end of the current fiscal year.
($1 = 87.2490 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Nishit Navin; Editing by Dhanya Skariachan and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
