Anirban Mukherjee, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PayU India, has been promoted to the role of global CEO of PayU in a significant management reshuffle on October 3.
In his new position, Mukherjee will join the Prosus leadership team and report directly to Ervin Tu, Prosus and Naspers Interim CEO. He will assume responsibility for the overall business operations of PayU, according to a statement by PayU.
This move comes just two months after Netherlands-based investment firm Prosus announced that PayU’s fintech arm would be selling a portion of its business to Israel’s Rapyd for $610 million.
PayU’s Global Payments Organisation (GPO), which provides e-commerce payment solutions to global merchants in over 30 countries across Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, and Africa, was sold in this deal.
Laurent Le Moal, the previous global CEO, will step back from the operational management of the day-to-day business but will continue to work with Prosus and PayU in an advisory capacity, according to the statement.
This strategic shift is part of PayU’s India-centric approach.
Ervin Tu, Prosus and Naspers Interim Chief Executive Officer, stated, “As part of the transition to an Indian-focused strategy for PayU, now is the right time for Anirban to run the PayU business. Innovation and progressive regulation are driving rapid change within the digital payments industry in India, and we see many opportunities to support the next phase of growth for PayU.”
In fact, PayU is planning to go public in India sometime next year, with a valuation target of $6-6.5 billion. In 2022, Arvind Agarwal, the former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Nykaa, was appointed as PayU’s CFO in November 2022.
Mukherjee, in his newly appointed role, will report directly to Tu, according to the statement.
“The synergy of the government’s Digital India initiative and RBI’s forward-thinking regulation presents a significant opportunity for PayU to build a robust fintech franchise out of India. Prosus has been vital in PayU’s growth, and we will collaborate closely with Ervin and the Prosus team as we enter the next phase of PayU’s journey in India and Southeast Asia,” commented Mukherjee.
In addition to their India-centric approach, PayU is also experiencing accelerated growth in Southeast Asia.
“We see a vast opportunity in this region to grow and innovate further,” the statement added.
For the financial year ending in March 2023, PayU India reported $400 million in revenue, marking a growth of 31 percent, according to the company’s statement.
