Source: Entrackr
Bengaluru, July 15, 2025- Fintech company PhonePe hired Shivnath Thukral as its new Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs as PhonePe strengthens its leadership team in the run-up to its IPO.
As Thukral assumes this role, he will be responsible for leading PhonePe’s engagement with lawmakers, regulators and other governmental bodies. He will develop the company’s strategic plan on laws and regulations that impact PhonePe. Thukral will be part of PhonePe’s senior leadership team and will work closely with its co-founders, Sameer Nigam, and Rahul Chari.
Thukral possesses extensive experience in the fields of public policy and communications. Prior to his position with PhonePe, he worked at Meta, (formerly Facebook), where he was Vice President, Public Policy. He led conversations with government bodies and was instrumental in developing technology and digital finance policy in India.
Along with his role at Meta, Thukral is a part of many other well-known industry groups including the Broadband India Forum (BIF), the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), and the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI). He also developed good relationships in India’s policy ecosystem and has respect in general in the process.
“We are delighted to have Shivnath join the PhonePe team,” said Sameer Nigam, co-founder & CEO, PhonePe. “He brings rich experience and deep insights into regulatory frameworks and public policy that will be invaluable as we scale further.”
This strategically important appointment is well-timed for PhonePe. The company is reportedly looking to file papers for a $1.5 billion initial public offering (IPO), looking to get a valuation of $15 billion, which would probably be one of the largest IPOs in the Indian fintech space.
PhonePe has rapidly expanded over the last few years. The company now has more than 600 million registered users and processes more than 330 million transactions every day. It has a total payment volume (TPV) of over ₹150 lakh crore every year.
PhonePe’s growth has occurred at breakneck speed. It is now at more than 600 million registered consumers and processing more than 330 million transactions every day. The company’s total payment volume (TPV) is more than ₹150 lakh crore a year.
While PhonePe started with digital payments, it now has a wider reach in insurance, lending and wealth management, along with consumer-facing platforms Pincode, a local shopping app, and the Indus Appstore, an alternate marketplace to global app stores.
Thukral is anticipated to be a strong addition to help PhonePe deal with regulatory hurdles, establish good relations with the government, and bolster the next stage of its growth as it plans to go public.
