Fintech major PayU’s India business recorded total revenues of $211 million in H1FY24, as per its investor Prosus’ financial filing. Currently, India contributes 48% of PayU’s core payments revenues, it added.
The tech investor also stated that PayU’s
Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) platform LazyCard in India is shut down. "The consolidated trading loss narrowed by US$62m in local currency, excluding M&A to US$22m, due to improved profitability in GPO, Turkey and savings from the closure of India’s LazyCard business," Prosus revealed.
The growth in revenues largely came from its existing merchants and payment processing stack Wibmo, as new merchant signups continued to be paused for the Indian entity after a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) order, it said.
Prosus' core Payment Service Provider (PSP) revenue is primarily made up of payments operations in India, GPO (Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America), Iyzico (Turkey) and Red Dot Payments (south-east Asia), the report added.
In August of 2023, PayU agreed to sell its GPO business, excluding Turkey and Red Dot Payments, to Rapyd, a fintech-as-a-service provider, for $610 million. Prosus said that the sale will close in the first half of calendar 2024.
The credit business in India for PayU grew revenue by 23% to $43 million. The India Credit loan book size grew by 66% to $338 million at the end of September 2023 after issuing $362 million in credit during the first half of FY24.
Prosus's said that the Payments and Fintech segment operates profitable core PSP businesses despite pending regulatory approvals. However, the firm is in talks with authorities and expects a resolution soon. In December 2022, the RBI had issued an order to firms including PayU, Razorpay and Cashfree to stop onboarding new merchants to the platform.
Meanwhile, PayU’s consolidated business saw its revenue surge 21% year-on-year (YoY) to $497 million in the first half of the FY24 from $412 million in H1 FY23.
"India is Prosus’ largest market in the core PSP segment, contributing around 48% of revenues. In 1H24, PayU’s revenues grew significantly, driven by growth from existing merchants, Wibmo and its omnichannel business," added Prosus.
According to a report by Blomberg News, PayU’s India unit is seeking an initial public offering within the next 12 months. “We are preparing for a potential listing of PayU, aiming for the second half of next calendar year,” Prosus interim Chief Executive Officer Ervin Tu said on a call Wednesday after Prosus published its fiscal first half results.
