BillDesk acquires Worldline's India business for Rs 650 crore

BillDesk to acquire Worldline's India business

Payment Gateway firm BillDesk has acquired the India business of Paris-based Worldline for Rs 650 crore, the company said in a social media post.

Worldline India has a strong partnership with large banks and runs their offline payment terminal business.

The deal will see Worldline entering into a long-term technology and software pact, under which BillDesk will continue to use the former's payment software on a long-term basis. The deal is expected to be completed during the second half of this year.

"This strengthens our ability to deliver a more connected and scalable payments experience for banks, enterprises and merchants, while supporting digital adoption across markets and segments,” said MN Srinivasu, co-founder of BillDesk.

BillDesk is one of the country's largest online payment gateway firms and is also one of the oldest, with long-standing relationships with large banks, continuously running their payment gateway business for years despite the arrival of several new-age internet firms over the last decade.

“This association brings together large-scale payment aggregation, bank-grade transaction switching and omnichannel merchant acquiring within a single unified platform," BillDesk said.

According to the company, the businesses will provide a coordinated omnichannel payments experience for customers in recurring mandates, cross-border flows, and in-store Point of Sale (POS) and QR acceptance.

BillDesk said that it will help the company target mid-size merchants effectively.

The acquisition comes three years after PayU terminated a $4.7-billion deal to acquire BillDesk.

Founded in 2000 by MN Srinivasu, Ajay Kaushal and Karthik Ganapathy, the company has raised a total of $250 million in funding so far. The three founders each have around 10% stake in the company.