Suvidhaa in talks with payment bank licensees for tieup

MUMBAI: Suvidhaa Infoserve, a remittance and payments company, said it’s in talks with payment bank licensees for a possible alliance or even more. “We are in discussions with a few large non-telco payment bank licensees for a strategic alliance,” said Paresh Rajde, chairman, Suvidhaa Infoserve. “It could be a minority investment, majority secondary deal or a buyout while retaining the independent identity of Suvidhaa,” he added. Suvidhaa received angel funding from Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry and subsequently venture funding from NVP, Reliance Capital, IFC and Mitsui & Co. All investors, including promoters, own 15-20% of the company.

“Our platform can be used by any of the payment licence holders, but in case someone wants exclusive access to our network, he has to put his skin in the game by investing in Suvidhaa,” Rajde said. “We are at advanced stages of talks. Both the options of exit of an existing investor and dilution of stake are present, all depends on the valuation that we are getting.” Rajde said the target is to increase the gross transaction value of remittances on the Suvidhaa platform to $10 bn from $1.5 bn in two years. With around 30 million customers for domestic remittances, Suvidhaa currently acts as banking correspondent for Axis Bank and Yes Bank.