Amsterdam : Prosus N.V. (“Prosus”), the global consumer internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world, announced today that an agreement has been reached between PayU and the shareholders of the Indian digital payments provider BillDesk to acquire BillDesk for US$4.7 billion.
The proposed acquisition will see PayU, the payments and fintech business of Prosus which operates in more than 20 high-growth markets, become one of the leading online payment providers globally by total payment volume (TPV).
PayU focuses on high-growth markets and operates across three distinct businesses:
- Payments for domestic and cross border transactions. For the financial year ended March 2021, PayU reported a strong performance, increasing TPV 51% year-on-year to US$55bn across India, Latin America and EMEA;
- Credit solutions for consumers and small businesses. Licensed in India and distribution agreements in five other markets; and
- Strategic investments in innovative fintech companies. Including Remitly in the US and the building of a full financial services ecosystem in India.
BillDesk, founded in 2000, is an Indian success story and one of the leading payment businesses in the country.
Together, PayU India and BillDesk will be able to meet the changing payments needs of digital consumers, merchants and Government enterprises in India and offer state-of-the-art technology to even more of the excluded sections of society, while adhering to the regulatory environment in India and delivering robust consumer protection.
The transaction, which is subject to approval from the Competition Commission of India, builds on previous successful acquisitions by PayU in India, including CitrusPay, Paysense and Wibmo.
According to the FY21 annual report of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the number of transactions for digital retail payments has grown by more than 80% from 24 billion in 2018-19 to 44 billion to 2020-21.
Over the next three years, RBI expects more than 200 million new users to adopt digital payments with the average annual transactions per capita rising tenfold from 22 to 220.
PayU India and BillDesk run complementary businesses within India’s digital payment industry. Together, the two expect to create a financial ecosystem handling four billion transactions annually – four times PayU’s current level in India.
-Odisha Age
