US parent of EbixCash files for bankruptcy after $617-million loan default

Ebix Inc, the parent entity for Indian payments and remittance company EbixCash, has filed for bankruptcy protection in a Texas court after defaulting on a $617-million loan, a Bloomberg report said.

Law firm Sidney Austin LLP has been assigned as bankruptcy counsel, while Jefferies LLC will act as the investment banker to the proceedings, according to court filings cited by Bloomberg.

The Chapter 11 filing comes after the software services company for insurance and healthcare sector, founded by Indian origin businessman Robin Raina, failed to repay its dues against a $600-million credit facility from American banks.


While it is not clear yet how much of this bankruptcy filings will impact Ebix’s India business, a report published in The Morning Context said Ebix Singapore is one of the guarantors to the deal that Ebix signed with US banks in November for an extension in the credit facility.

Ebix Singapore owns 100% of its operations in India.

Ebix entered India through a slew of acquisitions starting in 2017 when it bought a majority stake in domestic remittance company ItzCash.

Ebix IPO didn’t take off

Between 2017 and 2020, it went on acquiring multiple companies involved in the money transfer business, including Paul Merchants, WallStreet Finance, and Transcorp International. It also acquired players in the international remittance business like Centrum Direct and technology companies like Miles Software Solutions. Through this inorganic route, EbixCash set up an expansive payments, services and remittance business in the country.

In 2022, during the time of the tech IPO boom, EbixCash had attempted to go public in India. It had even filed its draft prospectus with markets regulator Sebi. But the planned IPO never saw the light of the day.

According to its draft red herring prospectus filed then, EbixCash operated across four major verticals from fintech and cross-border and domestic payments to travel technology and IT services for the healthcare sector. It operated through a ‘phygital’ process by building a network of agents who serve customers through their retail outlets.

In its DRHP, EbixCash had claimed that it dominated the person-to-person inward international remittance business with a 70% market share. It claimed to be the largest partner for Western Union in the country.

However, EbixCash’s public listings attempts in India fell flat. Even its investment bankers got reprimanded by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), which found non-compliance with a bunch of disclosure norms.

EbixCash also had its share of disputes with the companies it had acquired in India. With ItzCash it had a major dispute regarding the complete payment to be made in lieu of acquiring the entire stake in the company, after the initial purchase of 80% shares.