New Delhi, Sep 17 (KNN) The Reserve Bank of India issued a licence to PayU India to operate its own non-banking financial company (NBFC).

This as a development will provide a big boost to the Naspers-owned fintech major in growing its consumer credit business.

According to a report, PayU India, monthly processes payments of about Rs 8,000 crore, derives only about 2% of its overall revenue from its credit businesses currently. Globally, the company contributes about 47% of its parent’s total payment value.

PayU India managing director Jitendra Gupta will head the new initiative as per the reports.

The latest offering from the company that looks to expand its suite of credit-focused offerings is the NBFC, PayU Credit, which will be a subsidiary of PayU.

PayU overt the past two years have doubled down on the space, ringing up a series of investments and acquisitions in India, which has emerged as its largest market and is home to among the most financially underserved populations globally.

The strategy will be around building a platform consisting of three primary components — data, utilising the company’s balance sheet, and suite of products aimed at both consumers and merchants, according to the global CEO.

PayU, has an estimated 4Lakh merchants on its platform.

In July, PayU invested $11.5 million in PaySense, which provides instant loans to consumers, including those without credit cards.

In 2016, it acquired a 20% stake in digital lending platform ZestMoney, which also counts Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi as an investor.

In September 2016 after it acquired home-grown fin-tech venture Citrus Pay for about $130 million, striking one of the biggest deals in the space at the time, that number is expected to increase at least three-fold for the company.