BillDesk, one of India's oldest online payment aggregators, is all set to acquire a point-of-sale (PoS) player, three people aware of the matter told The Head and Tale.

The 26-year old firm is acquiring Worldline's India business, according to sources.

According to a recently released Worldline's PR, Worldline has announced the proposed sale of its India payments business to BillDesk for an estimated equity value of around €60 million ($71 million). The enterprise value of the deal is about €37 million ($43-44 million).

Worldline India has been on the block for over a year. The French parent company had appointed investment bank BNP Paribas to run the sale process. Multiple payment companies held discussions with Worldline during this period, but none progressed.

The Head and Tale had first reported in October that the Prosus-owned payment aggregator was in advanced talks to buy Worldline India. In December, we also reported that the talks had slowed after due diligence. And in a subsequent industry deep-dive, multiple sources confirmed that the PayU-Worldline deal was stuck – and that it was not clear whether PayU would move ahead.

[While we had sent detailed queries to both BillDesk and Worldline yesterday, neither chose to respond at the time. Instead, the companies have now issued a press release confirming the transaction. That said, our story goes significantly deeper — with details, context that the official statement does not capture.]

[From BillDesk Press Release: 

By aligning Worldline India's Payment Aggregation business and on-ground acquiring infrastructure with BillDesk’s aggregation and enterprise capabilities, the combined platform will be positioned to deliver integrated acceptance, settlement and value-added services to small and mid-sized businesses, reinforcing BillDesk’s role as a long-term, institution-grade partner to banks, enterprises and businesses in a regulated and increasingly scale-driven environment. 

The transaction remains subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions. 

"This transaction is a forward-looking investment in India’s payments ecosystem," said M N Srinivasu, co-founder of BillDesk. "It 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."

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co acted as the legal counsel to BillDesk, while EY acted as the diligence advisor.

From Worldline PR:

Worldline announces the proposed sale of its Indian payment activities to BillDesk, a top-tier Indian payments leader for an estimated equity value at closing of c.€60m ($71 million).

Enterprise Value is c.€37m ($43-44 million) and estimated equity value at closing is c.€60m. For reference, the revenue, Adjusted EBITDA and FCF deconsolidation impact of the perimeter on the Group are respectively estimated at c.€90M, c. €8M and free cash flow neutral on a full year basis.] 

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After the talks with PayU failed, discussions with BillDesk started sometime in December-January.

All the major payment companies in India today are trying to build an "omnichannel" play – the ability to serve merchants both online and at the physical checkout counter. Razorpay acquired Ezetap in 2022 for around $150 million specifically for this reason. Since then, it has expanded its PoS terminal. Pine Labs, which started as a purely offline player, has pushed aggressively into online payments. Paytm, PhonePe, and BharatPe all operate across both channels.

BillDesk is one of the few major payment aggregators in the country with no offline play. The Worldline acquisition would mark BillDesk's entry into the offline payments space.

As per an confidential sale document, accessed by The Head and Tale, Worldline – which also operates in the online payments space – has about 5 lakh active PoS terminals. The company claims to have about 3.6 million active merchant base and processed 1.1 billion transactions in FY25 (as of February 2025). Its gross transaction value stood at Rs 5 trillion (about $60 billion).

As per the document, in terms of revenue mix, about 64% comes through online payments business and 36% from offline (in-store) payments.

It works closely with most banks and large merchants. Worldline has 30-40 banks, and strong in PSU business. Being a global player, it has also invested in switch and has a ready tech stack.

During FY25, Worldline India’s operating revenue remained flat at Rs 694 crore, as compared to Rs 671 crore in FY24. Total expenses for FY25 rose to Rs 775 crore from Rs 686 crore a year earlier.

As a result, the company slipped into a net loss of Rs 22.5 crore in FY25, after posting a profit for two consecutive years – Rs 5 crore in FY24 and Rs 7 crore in FY23.

The company has about 1,137 employees, of which 431 are in technology team, 441 in operations and 132 in sales and marketing.

Worldline, in its Q1 earnings call, had stated that it wants to exit non-performing geographies and segments. "We need to be more selective, given the investment required to address innovation and compliance requirements. This will mean exiting from segments or geographies inherited from past acquisitions and that we consider too adjacent (in short not part of core focus)," Worldline chief executive officer Pierre-Antoine Vacheron had then said.

Founded in 2000 by M.N. Srinivasu, Ajay Kaushal and Karthik Ganapathy, BillDesk claims to process over 4 billion transactions annually. The total payment value (TPV) exceeded Rs 10 trillion ($110-$120 billion) in FY23. The company powers an estimated 50-60% of India's online bill payments. It strong relationships with government departments, banks, and large enterprises.

It is backed by marquee investors. General Atlantic is the largest stakeholder in BillDesk with a 14.2% stake, followed by Visa (12.6%), Temasek (8.5%), Clearstone Venture Partners (6.4%), March Capital (5.4%), as per Tracxn.

In August 2021, PayU agreed to acquire BillDesk for approximately $4.7 billion in what would have been one of India's largest fintech deals. The transaction received clearance from the Competition Commission of India on September 2022. However, on October 3, 2022, Prosus terminated the acquisition agreement, stating that certain conditions precedent had not been fulfilled before the long-stop date.

Since the collapse of the deal, The Head and Tale has learnt that BillDesk, according to sources, have lost a handful of merchants to PayU. Multiple industry sources point out that during the due diligence process, PayU had access to detailed confidential information, including merchant contracts, pricing structures etc. While due diligence access is standard in large transactions, the post-termination competitive dynamics between the two firms have drawn close scrutiny within the ecosystem.

While BillDesk's FY25 financial results is not out yet, the company saw its revenue from operations decline from Rs 2678 crore in FY23 to Rs 2,334 crore during the fiscal year ended March 2024. This also led to a drop in the company's profits in the same period. The profits during FY24 was Rs 121 crore, compared from Rs 142 crore in FY23.

With growth funding across the broader fintech ecosystem having thinned out significantly, public markets has emerged as a more viable path to fund expansion, provide liquidity, give exit to investors. Several payments companies – including PhonePe, PayU and Razorpay – are preparing for public listings. In the run-up to IPOs, they are targeting diversified revenue streams, that includes pursuing acquisitions to consolidate market share, building a stronger omnichannel presence, and expanding their footprint beyond India to tap new growth corridors. While nothing is certain yet, BillDesk, too, may eventually have to consider an IPO route.

The BillDesk-Worldline deal, if completed, will be the latest chapter in what industry insiders are describing as an unprecedented wave of consolidation sweeping India's offline payments sector. As The Head and Tale has reported extensively, nearly every major PoS company in the country is quietly looking for a buyer. Bajaj Finance, which deployed 80,000 to 90,000 PoS terminals starting in 2023, is now unwinding that strategy entirely and shifting to third-party payment aggregator partnerships.

If the deal does close, it will signal that one of India's oldest payments companies – which  has been quietly building post the failed acquisition talks with PayU – is ready to compete in the new, omnichannel reality that India's payments market is becoming.

Note: The story has been updated with inputs from the companies' press releases.