PhonePe ropes in former Meta India policy head Shivnath Thukral ahead of IPO

Shivnath Thukral

Walmart-owned digital payments platform PhonePe on July 15 announced the appointment of former Meta India public policy head Shivnath Thukral as vice president for public policy and government affairs ahead of its much-anticipated market debut.

Thukral will be responsible for leading PhonePe’s external engagement and discussions with policymakers and regulators while also building on its thought leadership in the industry, the company said.

He will be part of the leadership team at PhonePe and work closely with founders Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari to strengthen policy engagement and drive strategic initiatives.

PhonePe is the country's largest mobile payments firm with more than 45 percent market share in the popular Unified Payments Interface platform.

“We are delighted to have Shivnath join the PhonePe team. He comes with a rich experience and deep understanding of public policy, regulatory frameworks, and strategic advocacy," Nigam said in a statement.

Thukral's appointment comes at a time when UPI apps are campaigning for the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) to be imposed on UPI payments. However, in June, the Finance Ministry clarified that there were no plans to implement MDR on UPI payments.

Thukral stepped down as the public policy head for Meta India in June after a nearly seven and a half years stint.

The development comes at a time when PhonePe is gearing up for its public market debut. The firm transitioned from a private firm to a public company in April ahead of its planned initial public offering (IPO), as per the Registrar of Companies (RoC) filings.

The Walmart-owned digital payments platform said on February 20 that it was starting preparatory steps for a potential IPO. On February 25, Moneycontrol reported that PhonePe had picked Kotak Mahindra Capital, JP Morgan, Citi and Morgan Stanley as advisers for the IPO, seeking a valuation of up to $15 billion.

The company was valued at around $12 billion in its last private fundraising.

In FY24, PhonePe reported a 73 percent year-on-year increase in revenue at Rs 5,064 crore. Its Profit After Tax (PAT) came in at Rs 197 crore against a loss of Rs 738 crore in the previous year.

Recently, the Payments Council of India (PCI) wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, advocating for MDR on UPI transactions but also for Rupay debit cards.

The banking regulator, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on August 17, released a discussion paper on regulating various payment system-related charges, which triggered a fresh round of debate on whether or not payments instruments like UPI should attract MDR charges.

PhonePe's Sameer Nigam has been vocal about reinstating MDR in the country. In fact, in 2023, Nigam said that there is discord in the ecosystem where there are customers willing to pay as against government interventions coming up on private players to not monetise a service/product.