Fintech firm PayU lays off 150 employees, says it’s reorganizing teams
PayU, the fintech and payments firm backed by Prosus, will lay off 150 employees or reportedly 6 percent of its total workforce, announcing such a decision after edtech startups and tech giants earlier.
“Considering our highest strategic priorities, we are reorganizing teams across some businesses in India. As a result, we will unfortunately be separating from some of our colleagues. Any separations within PayU are always in accordance with the contractual terms and conditions.”, a PayU spokesperson said in a statement.
The company said India is its biggest market and remains important. “As we stay focused on our vision of creating a full-stack digital financial services ecosystem in India, it is important to ensure that PayU has the right structure and resources in place and is nimble enough to respond to a rapidly evolving fintech market and seize opportunities it presents.”
The company said it is not planning any major layoffs and the fallout will be part of normal business.
A media report suggested that the layoffs have mainly affected Wibmo, the digital payment security and technology unit PayU acquired in 2019. PayU did not comment on the same.
PayU’s total payment volume (TPV) grew 59 percent to $28 billion and revenue rose 48 percent to $183 million in HY2023, following digitization of e-commerce, financial services and bill payments, and a rebound in post-pandemic travel, it said. in a recent financial disclosure.
Total transactions increased 17 percent year-over-year, driving total payment volume (TPV) growth of 49 percent to $46 billion. Economic interest income rose 55 percent to $480 million, with a loss of $97 million.
Consolidated revenues grew by 57 percent to $412 million, on the back of growth in payments in India, Turkey and Poland, as well as scaling of credit operations in India. Consolidated trading losses widened to USD 80 million as we continued to invest in growing our credit business in India, the investment arm of South African multinational Nasper said in its earnings report.
PayU’s market share in India’s payment gateway market is around 30 percent and competes with the likes of Paytm, CC Avenue and Razorpay.
PayU was also in the news recently as well due to its plans to acquire payment gateway player Billdesk in a deal worth $4.7 billion. However, the deal did not happen despite approval from the CCI, as PayU withdrew on the condition of “unfulfilled M&A conditions”.
