Prosus Writes Off $578 Million Byju's Investment

New Delhi, Jun 24 (PTI) Dutch investment firm Prosus has written off USD 578 million (about Rs 4,800 crore) that it invested in edtech firm Byju's, the company said on Monday.

In September 2022, Prosus had lost significant influence on Think and Learn, which owns Byju's brand, as its stake in the edtech firm came down to 9.6 per cent.

"The group accounts for its 9.60 per cent effective interest in BYJU'S at fair value through other comprehensive income. The fair value of BYJU'S investment subsequent to the loss of significant influence is USD 578 million," Prosus said in its annual report for the fiscal year ended 2024.

Prosus is among the four investors that have approached the NCLT against Byju's management and its USD 200 million rights issue.

In November, Prosus valued Byju's below USD 3 billion which was 86 per cent less than edtech firm's peak valuation of USD 22 billion.

The Dutch firm, on the other hand, recorded growth in its payment arm PayU business.

The consolidated revenue of PayU grew 22 per cent to USD 1.1 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, driven by the PSP (payment service provider) businesses in Turkey (Iyzico) and India, as well as India credit.

PayU received in-principle authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India on April 23 to operate as a payment aggregator after an embargo of 15 months. The move allows PayU India to onboard new merchants.

"India, the largest market in PayU's PSP business, accounted for 46 per cent of core PSP revenues and 60 per cent of total payments volume (TPV). India grew revenue 11 per cent to USD 444 million, despite being unable to onboard new merchants due to the noted embargo during the year," the report said.

India TPV grew 22 per cent, ahead of revenue growth on the back of strong growth in ecommerce, financial services and government segments.

"While our payments business in India achieved a 3 per cent trading profit margin in FY23, this worsened to negative 3 per cent in FY'24 due to the change in merchant and payment method mix (predominantly driven by the embargo)," the report said.

PayU's India credit issued USD 873 million in loans and grew its loan book to USD 468 million in FY'24.