Prosus, the Netherlands-based investment major, reported a 15% growth in its India revenue, reaching $211 million in the first half of FY24, propelled by robust performances from payment merchants, PayU’s paytech unit Wibmo, and its omnichannel business. India stands as Prosus’s largest market in the core Payment Service Provider (PSP) business, contributing approximately 48% of revenues, following GPO (Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America), Iyzico (Turkey), and Red Dot Payments (Southeast Asia).
In August, PayU agreed to sell its GPO business to Rapyd for $610 million, with the transaction expected to conclude in the first half of 2024. Prosus highlighted that its payments and fintech business segment achieved a 21% growth in consolidated revenue to $497 million, driven by contributions from India payments, India credit, and business from Turkey. The total payment volume (TPV) witnessed an 18% increase to $55 billion, with India contributing 16% and GPO, including Turkey and Red Dot Payments, contributing 21%.
Prosus acknowledged that its payment and fintech segment operates profitable core PSP businesses alongside a rapidly expanding credit business in India. Despite facing pending regulatory approvals in India, impacting peer PSPs, the segment delivered strong results in the core PSP and credit business, featuring revenue growth and improved profitability. The regulatory approvals are related to onboarding new online merchants, and Prosus is actively working with relevant authorities, anticipating a resolution soon.
In the credit business, PayU experienced a 23% growth in revenue to $43 million in India, demonstrating resilience amid regulatory challenges. The India Credit business maintained a loan book of $338 million by the end of September 2023, having issued $362 million in credit during the first half of FY24. Prosus also revealed the closure of LazyCard, its Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) platform in India, contributing to the narrowing of the consolidated trading loss.
During the post-earning call, Ervin Tu, interim CEO of Prosus, expressed optimism about a public listing for PayU India in the second half of the next year. Tu emphasized that the business is performing well, not only in payments but also on the credit side, and efforts are underway to prepare the business for listing, given the healthy state of public markets in India. Recently, PayU India CEO Anirban Mukherjee assumed the role of CEO for the global business, reporting directly to Ervin Tu and overseeing the overall business operations of PayU
