Whenever a new IPO comes up, the first thing many of us check is who else is holding the stock. Big names give some comfort, that’s fair. But a name alone doesn’t tell you much, you need to see when they bought, what they paid, and what the business looks like underneath. So let’s go through the filing step by step, keeping it simple.
Manipal Payment and Identity Solutions is part of the Manipal Group, which started in 1948 as a printing business. It makes payment cards including credit, debit and metal cards, plus driving licences, ID cards, cheques and secure printing. In FY26 it had an estimated 36.4% share in credit cards and 30.9% in debit cards, as per the industry report in the prospectus. It runs 10 facilities across India and serves over 300 customers, mostly banks, fintechs and government bodies.
Manipal Payment and Identity Solutions shares closed at ₹407.90, down 0.48% from the previous close of ₹409.85. The company has a market cap of ₹9,455.31 crore.
Mukul Agrawal came in well before the IPO
Yes, Mukul Agrawal was a shareholder before the IPO. The Manipal Payment and Identity Solutions prospectus shows he bought 11,66,244 shares on May 16, 2024, from Manipal Media Network, at ₹643.09 a share. Those were old ₹10 face value shares. The company later split each one into five shares of ₹2, so he now holds 58,31,220 shares.
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The prospectus pegged this at 2.58% before the IPO and 2.47% after, though that was an estimate subject to finalisation of allotment. Now that the stock has listed, his actual holding stands at 2.52%.He didn’t sell anything in the issue, the only seller was the promoter.
What he paid versus the IPO price
After adjusting for the split, he paid about ₹128.62 a share, so roughly ₹75 crore in total. The IPO price is ₹339, which is around 2.6 times his cost. At that price his stake is worth about ₹198 crore. He is also the third biggest public shareholder, behind Touchstone Trust Scheme IV (6.29%) and Think Investments PCC (2.85%).
How the numbers look
For FY26 (year ended March 2026), consolidated revenue was ₹1,326.75 crore, up 5.63% from ₹1,256.07 crore. EBITDA, which is operating profit before interest, tax and depreciation, was ₹455.83 crore against ₹408.77 crore, and margin rose to 33.60% from 32.01%. Net profit was ₹253.46 crore, lower than ₹282.21 crore.
Look, that fall is because FY25 had a one-time gain of ₹110 crore. Profit before tax and one-time items actually went up from ₹244.46 crore to ₹351.67 crore. Interest cost also dropped to ₹47.91 crore from ₹109.12 crore, and borrowings are now close to zero, about ₹0.4 crore against roughly ₹473 crore a year earlier.
Revenue grew just 0.69% in FY25 and 5.63% in FY26. Cards billed were 86.20 million in FY26 versus 86.15 million, basically flat. Top 10 customers bring 58.67% of sales, the biggest one alone 9.93%. Exports are the bright spot, ₹95.70 crore or 7.21% of revenue, up from ₹54.43 crore.
Management wants to grow metal cards, the premium ones banks give to rich customers, which carry higher prices and margins. It already supplies them to the top four credit card issuers in India. The industry report in the prospectus expects Indian metal card use to go from 0.1 million in 2020 to 10.5 million by 2030. More exports are also planned.
Valuation and use of IPO money
The IPO was ₹805 crore, priced at ₹339, the top of the ₹322 to ₹339 band. ₹320 crore is fresh shares, and ₹485 crore is promoter Manipal Technologies selling, which the company doesn’t receive. Of the ₹295.32 crore net fresh money, ₹238.43 crore goes into new machines and set-ups, and ₹56.90 crore for general use. At ₹339 the market cap comes to about ₹7,858 crore, and P/E is 30.11 times FY26 earnings (P/E is how many rupees you pay for each rupee of yearly profit). The only listed peer, Seshaasai Technologies, was at 24.97 times on August 31, 2026.
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Bottom Line
Mukul getting in early at around ₹128 and staying put through the IPO is a decent sign, but new buyers pay ₹339 now, so his easy gain is already made. The business has strong margins, almost no debt, and plans to push metal cards and exports. Slow sales growth, flat card volumes and dependence on a few big customers are the worries. At 30 times earnings it isn’t cheap, so the next few quarters of growth matter.