BharatPe buys Payback India

New Delhi, June 10

Merchant payment and lending service provider BharatPe on Thursday said it has acquired Payback India from American Express and ICICI Investments Strategic Fund.

The company, however, did not disclose the financial details of the transaction. This is the first-ever acquisition by BharatPe and will make Payback India a wholly-owned subsidiary of BharatPe, a statement said.

Payback India — launched in 2010 — is a multi-brand loyalty programme with over 100 million members in the country. It has a network of over 100 offline and online partners and allows its customers to earn and redeem points on every transaction at its partner merchant outlets.

First  Acquisition

• This is the first-ever acquisition by BharatPe and will make Payback India a wholly-owned subsidiary of BharatPe
• The acquisition of Payback India is in line with BharatPe’s strategy to build a robust and engaged network of over 20 million small merchants by 2023

The acquisition of Payback India is in line with BharatPe’s strategy to build a robust and engaged network of over 20 million small merchants by 2023, the statement said. With Payback India, BharatPe will be able to enhance its value proposition for the merchant partners, it added.

Additionally, it will enable BharatPe to build a lucrative set of offerings for end customers, that will enhance footfalls at merchants and accelerate the growth of their businesses.

As a result of the acquisition, all Payback India employees will become part of the BharatPe Group. Suhail Sameer and Gautam Kaushik (Group presidents at BharatPe) along with Sumeet Singh, general counsel of BharatPe, have joined the Board of Payback India.

The role of the senior leadership team at Payback India will be expanded to also work on the loyalty programme for the six-million plus merchants of BharatPe, it added.

The team, led by Pramod Mahanta (MD Payback India) and Rijish Raghavan (CEO at Payback India), will be working closely with Gautam Kaushik to build a new version of Payback India. — PTI

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