Paytm set to make stock market debut today after $2.5 billion IPO

The business priced its 85.1 million-share offering at the top of the range at 2,150 rupees ($28.92) per share. It had set a price range of 2,080-2,150 rupees per share for the transaction.  

Paytm, an Indian digital payments business, is expected to make its stock market debut on Thursday, after the oversubscription of its $2.5 billion initial public offerings (IPO), India's largest, last week. Paytm, which China's Ant Group and SoftBank back, secured $1.1 billion from institutional investors and received $2.64 billion in bids for the remaining shares on sale last week, or 1.89 times. The business priced its 85.1 million-share offering at the top range at 2,150 rupees ($28.92) per share. It had set a price range of 2,080-2,150 rupees per share for the transaction. Despite Paytm's high valuation, several market observers predicted that the shares would rise on its launch.

Paytm was launched in 2010 by engineering graduate Vijay Shekhar Sharma as a platform for cellphone recharges. After ride-hailing business Uber listed it as a speedy payment option in India, the company developed swiftly, and its use increased further in late 2016 after New Delhi's surprise ban on high-value currency notes encouraged digital payments. According to Forbes, Sharma, a schoolteacher's son, is now a billionaire with a net worth of $2.4 billion as a result of Paytm's success. Its IPO also created hundreds of new millionaires in a nation with a per capita income of less than $2,000.