<p>Manipal Payment and Identity Solutions Ltd</p>

Manipal Payment and Identity Solutions Ltd

Manipal Payments is one of the leading payment card manufacturers in India. It has served SBI, Bank of India and Indian Bank for over 15 years, and counts 12 public sector banks, 22 private banks and 60 fintechs among its customers. The end market is not growing, and the headwinds look structural :- Debit cards are 84.3% of the cards it billed in FY26, and debit card transactions in India have fallen 67% since 2021. UPI has taken that volume, with transactions up eight-fold since 2021. RBI attributes the decline in debit card usage to digital wallets, UPI and credit card adoption. Manipal's volumes have been moderating for three years and other players of size are also seeing the downtrend. Seshaasai's payment revenue is down 32% since FY24, the Indian entity of IDEMIA and Giesecke & Devrient fell 24% and 37% in FY25, and in China, Goldpac's card segment is down 39% since 2022.

Revenue here moves with mandates rather than demand. Standalone revenue fell from ₹426 cr in FY17 to ₹240 cr in FY22, then jumped to ₹1,029 cr in FY24 on the chip card mandate and the post-COVID issuance catch-up. On the positive side, margins have expanded sharply since FY22, capex needs are low, cash generation is decent and the balance sheet is now almost free of debt. The parent, Manipal Technologies, is a commercial printing and banking services business, part of a group that has served Indian banks since 1948.

At 17.6x EV/EBITDA and 31.9x earnings, the valuation appears on the higher side when growth ahead does not look favourable and the company has not set out a plan for it. We would stay away. At the current GMP of ~1% (11 September 2026), the issue points to no meaningful listing gains.