PhysicsWallah shares drop 15% as sell-off erases nearly ₹10,000 crore in market cap

Shares of edtech platform PhysicsWallah Ltd. fell another 15% on Thursday, November 20, extending the slide that began on Wednesday despite a strong market debut earlier this week.

The company's market capitalisation has now dropped to ₹34,888.25 crore, sharply lower than the nearly ₹45,974.84 crore valuation at the time of listing on November 18.

The stock has now fallen 16% from its listing price in just three sessions.

Despite the correction, shares are still trading 11% above the IPO price of ₹109 apiece.

PhysicsWallah targets profitability within a year

PhysicsWallah aims to turn profitable in under 12 months, Co-founder and Whole-time Director Prateek Maheshwari told CNBC-TV18 in a recent interaction.

Following its successful market debut, the company plans to accelerate expansion.

"We want to capture southern India, win in 11 Indic languages, and broaden our presence across multiple exam categories," Maheshwari said.

Nearly 52% of the company's revenue currently comes from its online business, with the remainder from offline centres. This mix is expected to stay largely unchanged as both segments are growing at a healthy pace, he added.

Maheshwari said revenues grew over 40% in FY24-25, and the company expects to maintain over 30% growth in the coming years. PhysicsWallah has no plans for inorganic expansion at the moment.

PhysicsWallah delivered 36% listing gains when it debuted on November 18, listing at ₹145 on the NSE and ₹143.10 on the BSE, compared to its issue price of ₹109.

The edtech firm's ₹3,480-crore IPO was subscribed nearly 2 times during the November 11-13 window, receiving bids for 33.62 crore shares against 18.62 crore on offer.

Retail investors subscribed 106%, NIIs 48%, and QIBs 2.7 times their allotted portion.

Founded in 2016 by Alakh Pandey, who began uploading free physics lessons on YouTube, PhysicsWallah rose to prominence during the pandemic. The company today operates 303 offline centres across 152 cities in India and the Middle East.