Quick Take
- PayU India posted its first FY26 profit with $18 Mn (Rs 170 Cr) adjusted EBITDA on $781 Mn revenue.
- Payments stayed the core engine at $577 Mn, while total payment volume touched $90 Bn, up 15%.
- Credit turned profitable too, setting up a long-delayed IPO the group has eyed for years.
In This Article
PayU India reported its first full-year operating profit in FY26, posting a positive adjusted EBITDA of $18 Mn (about Rs 170 Cr) on revenue of $781 Mn (about Rs 7,384 Cr), up 13% year-on-year, according to parent Prosus. The result was disclosed on June 29, 2026.
The milestone caps years of heavy spending to build the payments and lending arms of the Prosus-owned fintech. Adjusted EBIT loss also narrowed sharply by 80% to $10 Mn, a clear sign of tighter operations. For a company long linked to a delayed public listing, profit changes the story.
StartupFeed Insight
The number that matters is not the $18 Mn profit, it is the mix. Value-added services and SaaS now make up 33% of payments revenue, and that is the higher-margin engine that finally tipped the whole business positive. Anyone tracking India’s payment gateway sector should watch whether the company can hold this margin discipline while chasing volume. StartupFeed expects a DRHP (Draft Red Herring Prospectus, filed with SEBI before an IPO) filing within the next 9 to 12 months, using this profit print as the anchor of the listing pitch. The credit book breakeven, hit ahead of a September 2025 target, removes the last big drag. By Avinash.
FY26 Numbers Breakdown
The FY26 results mark the first year of positive adjusted EBITDA at the group level. The figures below come from the Prosus FY26 annual report.
| Metric | FY26 Detail | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Total Revenue | $781 Mn (Rs 7,384 Cr) | Up 13% from $694 Mn in FY25 |
| Adjusted EBITDA | +$18 Mn (Rs 170 Cr) | First-ever positive full-year figure |
| Adjusted EBIT Loss | -$10 Mn (Rs 95 Cr) | Narrowed 80% year-on-year |
| Payments Revenue | $577 Mn (Rs 5,453 Cr) | About 74% of total revenue |
| Credit Revenue | $204 Mn (Rs 1,928 Cr) | Up 19%, now EBITDA profitable |
| Total Payment Volume | $90 Bn | Up 15%, transactions up 49% |
The standout detail is the credit turnaround. Prosus reported the credit arm swung to a $6 Mn adjusted EBITDA profit in FY26, against a $28 Mn loss in FY25.
About the Company
PayU India is the digital payments and lending arm of Dutch technology investor Prosus. Founded in 2002, it runs two businesses: a payment gateway that charges merchants a processing commission, and a digital lending vertical offering consumer and SMB loans via its NBFC PayU Finance, with LazyPay as its BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) brand. Prosus says the fintech holds roughly 25% of the country’s online payments revenue and manages $682 Mn in assets under management.
Is PayU India profitable now?
Yes, PayU India turned adjusted EBITDA positive for the full FY26, its first such year. The shift was led by higher-margin value-added services and a credit arm that finally stopped bleeding cash. Prosus noted the firm exited negative-margin portfolios in the second half, which slowed revenue but lifted quality.
The payment business has been profitable at the EBITDA level for the last three years, and credit will break even in Q2 of FY26, said Arvind Agarwal, group CFO, PayU India, in July 2025.
That forecast held. The credit vertical hit breakeven close to its September 2025 target, removing the biggest weight on group profitability and giving the business a cleaner financial story to take public.
How did the company turn the corner?
The turn to profit came from reshaping the payments engine around margins, not just volume. The company split its sales into a “farming” motion that deepens value-added and SaaS (Software as a Service) products for existing merchants, and a “hunting” motion for new clients. VAS and SaaS, including fraud and authentication tools, now contribute 33% of payments revenue.
Group synergies helped too. During FY26, payments processed for Swiggy rose five times, ixigo’s UPI volumes climbed 50% in a single month, and the Meesho tie-up more than doubled loan originations within nine months. Its Mindgate and Wibmo subsidiaries now help process around 50% of all UPI transactions and about 75% of India’s credit card transactions. The firm also holds an integrated payment aggregator authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India.
How does it rank in payments?
PayU India competes with Razorpay, Cashfree, and PhonePe in the payment gateway sector, alongside global player Stripe. Its edge is scale plus a lending book that most rivals lack. The comparison below is indicative, based on publicly reported figures.
| Player | Core Strength | FY26 Signal |
|---|---|---|
| PayU | Payments plus lending | $90 Bn TPV, first profit |
| Razorpay | Developer-first gateway | Strong SME reach |
| PhonePe | UPI consumer scale | IPO-bound, large volumes |
What sets the company apart is the combined payments-and-credit model under one Prosus roof, letting it cross-sell loans across group platforms like Swiggy and Meesho.
What’s Next
The clear next milestone is the long-postponed IPO. The group last delayed its listing in July 2024 to focus on growth and profitability, giving a 6 to 12 month window that never firmed up. With both payments and credit now profitable, it has the print it wanted. Will FY26 be the year the fintech finally files with SEBI, or will it wait for one more clean quarter?
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Written by Avinash. Have a tip? Write to us at editorial@startupfeed.in.
