Pine Labs IPO: Price Band Set At INR 210-221

Fintech major Pine Labs has set a price band of INR 210 to INR 221 for its initial public offering (IPO), which is set to open on Friday (November 7).

At the upper end of the price band, the IPO values the company at INR 25,377 Cr (about $2.9 Bn). Earlier this year, reports said that Pine Labs was eyeing a valuation of $6 Bn to $7 Bn.

In terms of financial metrics, the company’s price to earnings ratio (P/E ratio) at INR 221 price stands at 152.41 on the basis of its diluted earnings per share for FY25. At the lower end of the price band, the P/E ratio stands at 144.83.

The anchor bidding for Pine Labs’ IPO will take place on Thursday (November 6), while the issue will close on November 11. The shares are expected to list on the exchanges on November 14.

The IPO will comprise a fresh issue of up to INR 2,080 Cr and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 8.23 Cr shares. At INR 221, the total size of the IPO would be about INR 3,900 Cr (about $439 Mn).

Notably, Pine Labs cut the size of the public issue from that proposed in its DRHP. Earlier, the public issue was to comprise a fresh issue of up to INR 2,600 Cr and an OFS of up to 14.78 Cr shares. 

In the OFS component, most investors have reduced the number of shares they would sell. The biggest reduction came from Peak XV Partners Pine Investment Holdings, which cut its OFS size to 2.3 Cr from 3.9 Cr in the DRHP. Cofounder Lokvir Kapoor cut his OFS size to 0.22 Cr shares from 0.38 Cr earlier.

Founded in 1998 by Kapoor, Tarun Upadhyay and Rajul Garg, Pine Labs offers digital payments and issuing solutions for merchants, consumer brands and enterprises, and financial institutions in India as well as overseas markets like Malaysia, the UAE, Singapore, Australia, the US and Africa.

The company plans to deploy INR 532 Cr from the fresh issue proceeds for repayment/ prepayment of borrowings availed by it. It will use INR 60 Cr for investments in its subsidiaries, including Qwikcilver Singapore, Pine Payment Solutions, Malaysia, and Pine Labs UAE, to expand its international presence. 

It has earmarked INR 760 Cr for investments in IT assets, cloud infrastructure, procurement of digital check-out points and technology development initiatives. Of this, INR 230 Cr will go towards IT and cloud infrastructure, INR 430 Cr will be used for digital check-out procurement and INR 100 Cr for technology development. 

On the financial front, Pine Labs turned profitable in the first quarter of current fiscal (Q1 FY26) on tax credit. The company reported a net profit of INR 4.8 Cr in the June quarter as against a loss of INR 27.9 Cr in Q1 FY25. 

However, it would have remained in the red during the period under review if not for a tax credit of INR 9.6 Cr. Pine Labs posted a loss before tax of INR 4.8 Cr during the quarter under review.

Its revenue from operations zoomed almost 18% to INR 615.9 Cr in Q1 FY26 from INR 522.4 Cr in the year-ago period.