Anirban Mukherjee appointed PayU CEO as Le Moal steps back

PayU India head Anirban Mukherjee has been appointed the chief executive officer (CEO) of the global parent, PayU, as the Prosus-backed fintech takes on an India-centric strategy.

With the elevation of Mukherjee, his predecessor Laurent Le Moal, who has been the global CEO of PayU since 2016, will step back from operational management of the day-to-day business but will remain with Prosus and PayU in an advisory capacity, Prosus said in a statement on Tuesday.

As part of the transition, Mukherjee will now directly report to Ervin Tu, who was appointed as the interim CEO of Dutch-listed technology investment firm Prosus and South African group Naspers after Bob van Dijk abruptly stepped down from the post last month.

“I want to thank Laurent for the pivotal role he’s played in shaping and driving the global payments and fintech strategy for Prosus over the past 8 years. I’m happy that he will remain on board to help us with the next phase in the development of the business. As part of the transition to an Indian-focused strategy for PayU, now is the right time for Anirban to run the PayU business,” said Tu, who is also the group’s chief investment officer.

ET was the first to report, on August 25, that with PayU selling its global operations to Israel-based fintech Rapyd, Le Moal and global chief financial officer Aakash Moondhra would be moving out of the organisation.

With their resignations, Mukherjee was expected to take additional responsibility for the Turkey and Southeast Asia markets, which remain part of the PayU portfolio, ET had reported.

Last month, Moondhra took to professional networking website LinkedIn to announce his departure from the fintech firm.

In August, Prosus sold PayU’s Global Payments Organisation (GPO), to Israel’s Rapyd for $610 million, to focus only on operations in India, Turkey and Southeast Asia. PayU’s global business included operations across geographies such as Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, and Africa.

“PayU is built in India for India and beyond, and today we run a successful payments and credit business riding on a locally rooted technology stack. Our ambition is to outpace the market with strong profitability,” said Mukherjee. “Prosus has been vital in PayU's growth, and we will collaborate closely with Ervin and the Prosus team as we enter the next phase of PayU’s journey in India and Southeast Asia.”

Citing sources, ET had also reported in August that PayU had begun preparations for the public listing of PayU India. Meanwhile, the Indian central bank has asked PayU to reapply for its payment aggregator licence, which it needs to start onboarding merchants in India again.