Ebix buys lending software firm Indus for $29 mn

NASDAQ-listed software firm Ebix Inc on Friday announced the acquisition of Pune-headquartered lending software solutions company Indus Software Technologies Pvt. Ltd for $29 million (around Rs 200 crore at current exchange rates).

In a statement, Ebix said that Indus will be integrated into its digital payments offering EbixCash, which the company claims is the largest domestic remittance exchange in India.

It added that key Indus executives will become part of EbixCash’s top leadership team, with 900 employees joining Ebix’s workforce.

Indus, which offers a suite of products and technology solutions for the banking, finance, telecom and insurance industries, earns 56% of its revenues from India with the rest coming primarily from Europe, Middle East and South-East Asia.

It counts Volvo, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Life and Airtel among its clients.

“We have always believed that lending is a must-have functionality for any leading end-to-end financial exchange,” said Ebix chairman, president and chief executive Robin Raina.

He said EbixCash’s lending vision includes powering technology for lenders in any industry; creating a person-to person lending exchange that can be available over the web, e-wallets, and mobile phones; and lending services for EbixCash outlets.

US-based Ebix is an on-demand software service provider to the financial sector, e-commerce services and healthcare industries. It has made at least 10 acquisitions in India over the past two years.

In April, the firm said it would will acquire 60% stake in Indian e-learning company Smartclass for $8 million (Rs 52 crore).

Last year, it had acquired an 80% stake in India’s ItzCash Card for $120 million (Rs 778 crore).

In an interaction with VCCircle in November last year, Raina said that the firm will acquire more companies and that its India business can touch $500 million in three years. He added that Ebix India will generate at least $200 million in revenue by 2018. 

In April this year, Ebix invested in Centrum Direct Ltd, the foreign exchange services arm of Centrum Capital Ltd, which it bought for about $175 million (Rs 1,140 crore).

In January, it had acquired money transfer firm Transcorp International Ltd for $7.4 million (Rs 47.15 crore).