Interview with Infibeam Avenues Ltd

Our focus is to strengthen growth prospects in India, expand rapidly in international markets and develop new payment models, affirms Vishal Mehta, Managing Director, Infibeam Avenues Ltd. 

How is Infibeam Avenues uniquely positioned to capitalise on the tailwinds propelling India’s fintech industry?

For the last 20 years, at Infibeam Avenues, we have been following a multi-pronged growth strategy eyeing domestic dominance as the only player in the sector to cover all digital payments sector. Due to this diversity of offerings and services, we have emerged as a one-stop fintech services solution provider giving us a unique competitive advantage over our peers.

Infibeam Avenues has one of the highest portfolios of payment options for merchants, with over 200 plus payment options in India alone. We are also building a digital payment infrastructure that will enable the faster adaptation of the digital economy.

Infibeam’s flagship brand CCAvenue is one of India’s most experienced and nimble digital payment gateways with an omnichannel presence. Recently, we have launched CCAvenue Mobile App, an omnichannel payment platform with a built-in tap and pay that converts any NFC‐enabled Android phone into a PoS terminal. The aim behind this innovation was to revolutionise the Rs 27 billion PoS market in India. This will help merchants all over the country to have easy access to digital transactions with the help of their smartphones.

We are also in an advantageous position to capitalise on the cross-border payment systems currently promoted by the government. In addition, based on our experience in India, we have slowly started making inroads in other key countries as well. In the coming months, our focus will be to strengthen our growth prospects in India, expand more rapidly in international markets and develop new business models/payment products.

For Q1FY23, Infibeam Avenues posted a 137% YoY growth in its profit after tax to Rs 23 crore. Transaction processed value (TPV) was up 72% to Rs 87,218 crore compared to Rs 50,651 crore in the June quarter last year. What factors are responsible for your stellar outperformance?

The opening up of high margin covid impacted sectors like travel and tourism, hospitality, airlines, and entertainment have been one of our early catalysts in the last quarter. This has brought about a positive business mix. In addition, the increase in credit card spending has positively contributed to our payment option portfolio.

We have also followed a cost optimisation measure which has also helped in reaching our earnings target. Lastly, the number of merchants associated with us has doubled from 2.5mn in FY21 to 5.7mn in FY22, adding to our overall growth. 

Infibeam Avenues recently made a strategic investment by picking up a 50% stake in a Gurgaon-based software startup, Vishko22 Products and Services. Can you elucidate the salient synergistic benefits you expect to accrue from this acquisition?

It’s a strategic investment to cater to the growing demand for omnichannel software with the existing suite of e-commerce offerings. In March this year, we acquired Bengaluru-based fintech start-up Uvik Technologies. The aim here is to target eCommerce companies as they have scalable models and demand digital solutions that can accommodate or unify online and offline business formats. We will continue to make more such investments in technology start-ups over the next one year.

Infibeam Avenues’ board recently approved raising Rs 161.50 crore via the issue of warrants on a preferential basis. Can you shed some light on how this funding proceeds will be utilized?

The fund of Rs 161.5 crore is raised through preferential allotment of fully convertible warrants. It will be deployed for the company’s domestic and international fintech and software business expansion as well as for other business purposes.