MAM
Karthik Lakshminarayan joins Madison Media
MUMBAI: Karthik Lakshminarayan joins Madison Media as COO of Crest. In his new role, he will head the ITC AOR. He will be alternating between the Bangalore and Kolkata operations of ITC.
Lakshminarayan comes with over 16 years of experience in media having worked in media agencies like Madison Media, Initiative Media and Starcom as well as with media channels like Colors and FoodFood. Across his career, he has worked on a large and diverse portfolio of brands like Godrej, Cadbury, Marico, Asian Paints, Bharti Axa, Infosys, Britannia, Titan, Heinz, Pillsbury and Hallmark amongst others.
Madison Media group CEO Punitha Arumugam says, “I am delighted to have Karthik back with Madison Media. The best testament for Madison Media as an organisation is when ex Madisonites as talented as Karthik are willing to accept and explore career opportunities with us once again.”
Lakshminarayan added, “I am delighted to return to Madison Media, post my successful stint in the broadcast and production side of business, which I will leverage to deliver better value to Madison and its clients. I am looking forward to this new chapter in my career.”
Platinum Media CEO Basabdatta Chowdhuri added, “We have done a lot of interesting and exciting work for ITC in the last one year and I am looking forward to have Karthik lead our ITC AOR team.”
Madison Media Group handles media planning and buying for blue chip clients including Airtel, Godrej, Kraft, ITC, General Motors, Marico, McDonald’s TVS, Britannia, Procter & Gamble, Asian Paints, Tata Tea, Shriram Transport Finance, Levis, SpiceJet, Axis Bank, Domino’s, Bharti Axa, MaxNewyork Life Insurance, Tata Chemicals, Acer, Dish TV, IDFC, Imagine TV, Times Television Network, Indian Oil and many others.
The gross billing of Madison Media is Rs 30 billion.
Brands
Reserve Bank of India cancels Paytm Payments Bank licence
Central bank cites compliance failures; curbs tighten as wind-up looms
MUMBAI: India’s banking watchdog delivered its sharpest blow yet to Paytm Payments Bank, cancelling its licence and effectively ending its ability to operate as a bank under the law.
The Reserve Bank of India said the entity can no longer conduct banking business under the Banking Regulation Act, citing concerns that its affairs were not being run in the interest of depositors or the public and that it had failed to meet licence conditions.
The move escalates a crackdown that has been building for months. The bank had already been barred from onboarding new customers since March 11, 2022, and later faced restrictions on deposits, credit and wallet top-ups. In January 2024, the central bank ordered it to stop accepting fresh deposits, pointing to persistent non-compliance, including lapses in customer due diligence, use of funds and technology systems.
Operationally, the bank is now on a tight leash. It may process withdrawals of existing deposits and facilitate loan referrals through banking correspondents, but it cannot take fresh deposits.
The central bank said it would apply to the high court to wind up the bank.
Paytm sought to ringfence the fallout. In a regulatory filing, it said the licence cancellation applies to Paytm Payments Bank Limited, a separate entity, and should not be attributed to One 97 Communications. It added that there is no exposure or material business arrangement with the bank and that it operates independently, without Paytm’s board or management involvement.
“As informed earlier, Paytm (One 97 Communications Limited) and its services, which have been operating without interruption, will continue to operate uninterrupted. These include the Paytm app, Paytm UPI, Paytm Gold and all other services offered by its subsidiaries and associated companies,” the company said.
The distinction may reassure users of the app ecosystem, but the regulator’s verdict is unequivocal. After years of warnings, caps and curbs, the payments bank experiment at Paytm is being shut down—decisively, and with little room left to manoeuvre.
