Prosus-backed PayU India turns Ebitda positive in September quarter

Payment services provider PayU India turned profitable in the September quarter, with adjusted EBITDA turning positive by $3 million from a loss of $6 million a year ago, largely due to growth in its commercial lending business.

The Prosus-backed company’s EBITDA margin rose 400 basis points to 1% in the quarter. EBITDA is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

PayU’s revenue in the September quarter rose 21% year-on-year and 17% sequentially to $214 million.

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The financial data was reported in Dutch investor Prosus’ half-annual (H1FY26) report. Update on Monday.

Prosus’ latest India disclosures attribute much of this to PayU’s merchant lending arm, whose assets under management rose from $25 million in April 2024 to $204 million by September 2025 as it provided working capital loans to Swiggy and Meesho merchants.

The Dutch investor describes PayU as the payment gateway “connector” across its India portfolio, which also includes Swiggy, Meesho, PharmEasy, Rapido and ixigo, with tighter connections between these businesses intended to deepen usage and drive growth.

growth momentum

In the half-year ending September 2025, PayU India’s consolidated revenue rose 20% year-on-year to $397 million, making India one of the key growth pillars in Prosus’ e-commerce portfolio.

Within this, the payments business generated revenues of $301 million, an increase of 20%, while the credit business added $96 million, an increase of 17% compared to the same period last year.

At the Indian ecosystem level, Prosus reported revenues of $397 million in the first half, down from $332 million in the same period a year ago; This represents 20% growth for the segment.

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PayU India delivered $2 million adjusted EBITDA in payments In FY26, compared with the loss in the same period in the previous year, the credit arm narrowed its adjusted EBITDA margin from -20% to -3%, reaching breakeven in the September quarter.

This development is driven by a sharp trend towards higher-margin, value-added services and software-as-a-service products, such as fraud risk tools and multi-factor authentication, Prosus said.

“These high-margin services are gaining traction, with VAS and SaaS revenues accounting for 34% of payments revenue and contributing to strong growth in the mid-market and SMB segments,” the Dutch investor said in the statement.

The investor also reported that payment volumes on PayU India increased by 55% in the first half of FY26, driven by an increase in smaller ticket UPI payments, while take rates remained stable thanks to portfolio adjustments towards higher yielding segments.

Beyond PayU, Prosus also added minority stakes in Rapido and ixigo in 2025 and sees the recent IPOs of Bluestone and Urban Company as evidence that some of its India portfolio is maturing.

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Prosus began supporting India’s consumer internet sector through its parent company Naspers in 2005; one of its first investments was taking a stake in travel portal Goibibo in 2007; then expanded its portfolio in e-commerce, payments, food delivery and health technology.

Over the past two decades, it has steadily increased its presence in the market, generating more than $10 billion in payments through PayU, food delivery through Swiggy, social commerce platform Meesho, healthtech firm PharmEasy, bike-taxi app Rapido and travel portal ixigo.

On the payment gateway front, PayU India operates in a crowded payment gateway market that includes Cashfree Payments, Razorpay, BillDesk and Paytm, among others.