The $4.7 billion acquisition of Indian digital payments processor BillDesk by Prosus, a Dutch technology investment company, has been halted due to failing to satisfy contract requirements.
In accordance with the terms of the agreement, Prosus said on its website that “certain prior requirements were not satisfied by the 30 September 2022 extended stop date.”
The organization “remains dedicated to the Indian market and expanding its present firms in the region,” the corporation claims. CitrusPay, Paysense, and Wibmo are a few of the FinTech companies that Prosus has recently acquired in India. Additionally, it has invested in the credit platform Indiagold, the wealth management company Fisdom, the eCommerce start-up DotPe, and the credit provider ZestMoney.
In India’s digital payment system, BillDesk has made a name for itself as a payment gateway for a number of key businesses, governmental agencies, and banks.
Since the merger’s announcement last year, India’s antitrust watchdog, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), has asked PayU and BillDesk for further details because it is concerned that the transaction may lead to one business dominating an excessive amount of the market.
PayU would have grabbed a sizable portion of the Indian market if the acquisition had gone through. PayU estimated last year that the combined business would have processed payments worth $147 billion annually.
In India’s digital payments market, BillDesk, PayU, Razorpay, CCAvenue, and Paytm are the main competitors.
Aside from India, PayU has recently increased its footprint in Africa thanks to a collaboration with Payflex in South Africa and an entry into Ghana in June.
