Exclusive: PayU defers IPO plan to next fiscal year

Digital payments platform PayU has postponed its public listing plan in this fiscal year, two sources aware of the development told Entrackr. The Prosus-owned company was earlier contemplating its initial public offering in the ongoing calendar year or H2 2024.

“PayU has extended its IPO plan in the current fiscal year, although the company has finalized Goldman Sach as one of its lead bankers,” said one of the sources requesting anonymity. “The firm has chalked out plan to go public sometime after first quarter of FY26.”

PayU has been planning a public listing for the past couple of years but it deferred the plan as the Reserve Bank of India returned its payment aggregator license due to its complex corporate structure. However, the firm regained the payment aggregator license in April this year and started onboarding new merchants which was banned between January 2023 and April 2024.

In India, PayU has a base of over 500,000 merchants across three business sectors: payments, credit, and PayTech. It also claims to generate over $60 billion in annualized transaction volume (TPV).

As per sources, the company has been busy in readying itself for the public listing. “PayU may file DRHP in early 2025,” said another source who also wished not to be named.

“PayU has ambitions to scale and establish itself as an Indian group, eventually leading to us to become a public company. In terms of funding requirements, we always consider multiple avenues and access to public markets being an important source of long-term capital is also in our consideration. While we do not comment on any specific funding avenues, we maintain relentless focus on governance, compliance, and operational controls,” said a PayU spokesperson.

Unlike FY23, PayU’s revenue grew only 11% to $444 million in the fiscal year ending March 2024 and also slipped into losses. The slow revenue growth and negative margin were the result of RBI’s restriction.

PayU has been eyeing profitability and this is why it also laid off around 100 employees from its credit team, as per The Head And Tale report.  Several senior employees also left the company in the past two years.