In this role, Thukral will engage policymakers and regulators on policy decisions affecting the financial services industry. He will be part of the leadership team at PhonePe and work closely with founders Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari.
Thukral has worked with Meta as its vice president of public policy, where he looked after regulatory issues related to technology and financial inclusion.
Thukral’s appointment comes as the digital payments platform prepares for a $1.5 billion public market debut. The company may file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for the initial public offering (IPO) by August.
PhonePe is eyeing a valuation of $15 billion with the public listing, significantly higher than its last private valuation of $12 billion in 2023.
In 2022, it redomiciled to India from Singapore to ensure required compliances ahead of listing. It has also moved the ownership of its recently acquired IndusOS Appstore (OSLabs Pte Ltd) from Singapore to India.
PhonePe is the market leader in Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions in India. In June, the platform handled 8.55 billion transactions and a total value of Rs 11.99 lakh crore, which is 46.5% of the total volume and 50% of the value. In comparison, the entire UPI network logged 18.4 billion transactions worth Rs 24.04 lakh crore during the month.
The UPI operators have been demanding a merchant discount rate on transactions through the payments ecosystem to help monetise it. The finance ministry has, however, turned down any such demands. PhonePe gets 95% of its revenue from digital payments and UPI payments is a core aspect of that business.
