Prosus to sell part of PayU's global biz to UK firm

NEW DELHI: In a move that will allow Prosus to widen its focus on India's growing fintech market, the Netherlands-based company has decided to sell its payments arm PayU's Global Payments Organisation (GPO) business to London headquartered fintech startup Rapyd in a $610 million (over Rs 5,000 crore) deal. PayU's GPO business provides e-commerce payments solutions for merchants in more than 30 countries across Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe and Africa.

Prosus said the transaction will enable PayU to focus on India where it already claims to be catering to over 4,50,000 merchants and more than two million credit customers.

"Innovation and progressive regulations are driving rapid change within the digital payments industry in India and we see many new opportunities to further expand our business there. As one of the fastest growing major economies in the world, we strongly believe in digital India and are excited about the next phase of growth for PayU in India," Bob Van Dijk, Prosus and Naspers chief executive officer, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Besides India, Prosus will continue to retain PayU's Southeast Asia and Turkey businesses. In its FY23 annual report, Prosus said that PayU's total payment volume (TPV) in India touched $58 billion during the year, driven by transaction growth of 25%.

The market generated revenues of $399 million in FY23, recording a year-on-year growth of 42% on the back of continued growth in enterprise, small and medium-sized businesses and diversification into newer segments.

Laurent le Moal, chief executive officer at PayU, said that India's digital financial services opportunity continues to be large and under-penetrated, offering room for growth for the PayU India business.