Prosus-owned fintech major PayU has elevated Anirban Mukherjee to the role of global CEO. He previously served as the company’s India CEO. The appointment comes as part of the company’s shift towards an India-centric approach, while it also looks to accelerate growth in Southeast Asia.Mukherjee will take over reins from Laurent Le Moal, who will step back from the operational management of the day-to-day business but will remain with Prosus and PayU in an advisory capacity, a company statement said. “Anirban will join the Prosus leadership team and report directly to Prosus and Naspers interim CEO Ervin Tu. He will be responsible for overall business operations,” according to the statement.“As part of the transition to an Indian-focused strategy for PayU, now is the right time for Anirban to run the PayU business,” said Tu.
“PayU is built in India for India and beyond, and today we run a successful payments and credit business riding on a locally rooted technology stack. Our ambition is to outpace the market with strong profitability. We’re deeply committed to driving digitization and financial inclusion, especially for small merchants. 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,” said Anirban Mukherjee, CEO, PayU, commenting on his elevation.
The Netherlands-based investment firm Prosus, had in August this year, announced that its fintech arm PayU is selling a part of its business to Israel’s fintech-as-a-service provider Rapyd for $610 million. This saw PayU’s Global Payments Organisation (GPO), which provides e-commerce payment solutions for global merchants in over 30 countries across Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe and Africa, being acquired by the Israeli fintech.
In November 2022, PayU had appointed former Nykaa CFO Arvind Agarwal as its CFO.
PayU claims to serve over 450,000 merchants, 70 plus large banks via its paytech platform Wibmo, and more than 2 million customers with credit facilities in India. The fintech is also reportedly looking to list in India sometime next year, at a valuation of $6-6.5 billion.