Informist, Friday, May 14, 2021

By T. Bijoy Idicheriah

--Bajaj Finance MD: To dilute Mobikwik stake in line with promoters

MUMBAI - Bajaj Finance Ltd plans to dilute a part of its shareholding in Mobikwik in the proposed initial public offering of the payments platform, its Managing Director Rajeev Jain said.

"Mobikwik is looking at an initial public offering. Bajaj Finance owns 13.5%. Whatever the founders dilute (in the IPO), we will dilute with them in the same degree," Jain told Informist. 

According to media reports, One MobiKwik System is planning a $200 mln-$250 mln initial public offering before September. The IPO could value MobiKwik at over $1 bln, the reports say.

Bajaj Finance had bought 11% stake in Mobikwik in 2017, which rose to 13.5% through capital infusions.

Though Bajaj Finance intended to continue to partner Mobikwik, the non-banking finance company aims to have its own payments platform, Jain said. 

"We have learnt a lot from them, and it is too core and strategic for us, so we will build the payments business part on our own," Jain said.

Bajaj Finance recently secured the Reserve Bank of India's approval to issue and operate semi-closed prepayment payments business. The company has already said its prepaid payments instruments business with a fully functional Unified Payments Interface will go live by May 2021.

Bajaj Finance's Bharat Bill Pay went live in January. 

At 1211 IST, shares of Bajaj Finance on the National Stock Exchange were down 1.5% at 5276.90 rupees.  End

US$1 = 73.24 rupees

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

Edited by Avishek Dutta

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