PayU India has made seven top-level hires from companies including Airtel, Human Factors International and Fab Furnish even as it looks to launch products in nonpayment verticals including lending and investments for small and midsize businesses and consumers in the next three months. The financial technology arm of South African internet and media major Naspers has appointed Nimit Kumar, former chief technology officer at online furniture marketplace Fab-Furnish, as head of product for enterprise business. Kumar has previously also built enterprise solutions for Wall Street banks, pharmaceutical companies and universities across India and US. To beef up its design capabilities, PayU has roped in Amber Krishan, who was vice-president for advanced user experience design (UX) at UX consulting and training giant Human Factors International, as head of user experience. Krishan is a graduate from the Parsons School of Design and has built UX capability for Fortune 500 companies including multiple banks. The Delhi-based company has also brought on board Sachin Singhal, who was vice-president for marketing, mobile internet products and platforms at top telecom service provider Airtel, to head its consumer business vertical. The announcement comes weeks after ET reported that PayU’s owner Naspers is in talks to buy wallet player CitrusPay in an all-cash deal, which is likely to close in September. Last month, PayU said its payment gateway business plans to double the total value of transactions processed to $1billion per month in the next one year, backed by a boost in volumes from offline and online partnerships. PayU currently has three key businesses in the country — Pay U biz, its payment gateway solution used by large enterprises such as Book My Show, Ola, Cleartrip, red Bus and Zomato; Pay U money, a wallet solution for consumers and SMB businesses; and its newly launched point-of-sale system. Other executives PayU has hired recently include Pradeep Shekhawat, founder of a real money mobile gaming company for cricket fantasy sports, who will now head its SMB business. Mahinder Narang, who was a vice-president at fashion portal Fashion and You.com, will head product for the non-payment business under the same vertical. Former In Mobi product director Jitender Sharan has joined PayU India as head of engineering, non-payments, while Laxmikant Vyas, who was data science head at PepperTap, is now head of product, consumer credit business, at PayU.
