Around 20 million Indians use credit cards which is a really small number as compared to debit card users (in billions)
PayU is trying to make its presence in India’s digital credit business. Credit-lending companies have had a pretty decent time in India. After Razerpay’s corporate credit cards, PayU is trying its luck in the Indian market.
PayU has recently acquired majority stakes in an Indian fin-tech company PaySense for $185 million. This comes after the decision of PayU merging its LazyPay product with PaySense. Both the companies happen to be in the digital lending business and PaySense claims to have more than 5.5 million users in India.
The acquisition is divided into 2 stages. The first stage where PayU will be buying all the angel investors of PaySense and then merge Lazypay with PaySense.
2nd stage initiates when PayU injects $200 million out of which $65 million will be used immediately and the rest of the amount shall be used over the time of 2 years.
“At PayU, our ambition is to build financial services using data and technology. our first two legs have been payments and credit. Even this acquisition was about getting new capabilities and a strong management team.” Commented by Siddhartha Jajodia, head of credit at PayU. (Source)
Lazypay a micro-lending start-up provides short term credit ranging from INR 14,000-4,00,000/- on food delivery platform, e-commerce websites. PaySense on the other side is a long-term credit for vehicle purchases and for related services.
“Providing more Indian consumers with access to credit is crucial to helping individuals grow and succeed. PayU is a natural partner for us as we both strive to make finance more simple, accessible and transparent. We’re excited to start bringing our personal loan product to more consumers throughout India and truly democratize credit.” – Prashanth Ranganathan, Founder, and CEO, PaySense.
The digital credit market is a trillion-dollar opportunity in India and many start-ups are trying to utilize this opportunity. Start-ups like PayU are discovering new ways to find if a person is eligible for a loan or not.
PayU has analyzed the Indian market and is more or less ready to explore new offerings like credit for SMEs. PayU has already invested more than half a billion dollars in this market opportunity and recently acquired Wibmo for $70 million last year.
Anup Gupta, who was an early investor in PaySense said “It has been a privilege to partner with Prashanth, Sayali, and Team PaySense. They are demonstrating how technology can make a huge impact in the Indian financial services landscape. We are also thankful for our co-investors in this journey. In PayU, the company has a solid partner in achieving its vision and we wish them continued success.”
You name any sector, and there are some start-ups that are taking it very seriously. From acquisition spree to remodeling and restructuring just to capture maximum opportunities. PayU seems to be taking the financial and lending sector pretty seriously.
Time will tell how brilliantly their acquisition and vision works but as of now PayU’s hyperactivity is winning investor’s hearts and consumer’s confidence and it seems like PayU will be a market leader in its niche.
