JSA, Khaitan, Rajaram act on Ebix acquisition of stake in ItzCash for 800 crore

US-based software firm Ebix Inc. has acquired a majority stake in payments services firm ItzCash for Rs. 800 crore (approximately $124 million) from Essel Group and other shareholders..The transaction also provided an exit to ItzCash’s existing venture capital shareholders Matrix Partners, Intel Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners..J. Sagar Associates advised Ebix with a team led by Partner Sujoy Bhatia along with Principal Associate Zain Pandit and Associate Adhiraj Gupta..Khaitan & Co advised Essel Group and other resident sellers and the team was led by Sharad Abhyankar..Rajaram Legal advised Matrix Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners with a team led by Partners Archana Rajaram and Priyadarshani Sherchan..The US company joins the likes of Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp and South African technology conglomerate Naspers in entering India, as the digital payments sector exploded after the government banned old high-value currency notes late last year to curb cash transactions as part of efforts to tackle corruption and tax evasion, reported VCCircle..Softbank has recently invested Rs. 9,000 crore ($1.4 billion) in One 97 Communications, which owns mobile payments provider Paytm.