MAM
Polygon elevates Aishwary Gupta to lead global business push
Leadership elevation signals a sharper push into stablecoins and global payments.
MUMBAI: Money, it seems, is moving faster and Polygon Labs wants to be the one setting the pace. The blockchain firm has elevated Aishwary Gupta to global head of business, a leadership move that comes as regulated stablecoin payments and cross-border money flows move from theory to real-world adoption.
Gupta’s promotion marks a pivotal moment for Polygon Labs as it sharpens its focus on building financial infrastructure that can work at institutional scale. Having played a central role in forging enterprise and institutional partnerships across markets, Gupta now takes charge of global business strategy, ecosystem expansion and enterprise relationships at a time when blockchain-based payments are gaining both regulatory clarity and commercial momentum.
“When I joined Polygon, I believed blockchain would fundamentally reshape how money moves,” Gupta said. “What I didn’t fully anticipate was how quickly that conviction would be tested and validated.” He added that years of partnerships and negotiations with global institutions have reinforced one clear signal: the world is ready for better money infrastructure.
The elevation aligns with Polygon Labs’ broader ambition to build what it calls the Open Money Stack, a vertically integrated platform designed to power regulated stablecoin payments and seamless global money movement. The strategy has been reinforced by recent acquisitions, including Coinme and Sequence, expanding Polygon’s reach across key layers of the payments stack.
Through Coinme, Polygon gains licensed fiat on- and off-ramps across 48 US states. Sequence strengthens enterprise-grade smart wallet infrastructure, enabling one-click cross-chain transactions. Together with Polygon’s core network, the stack supports stablecoin settlement with fast, predictable finality with over $2.2 trillion in on-chain value already transferred.
The Open Money Stack is designed to strip out long-standing friction in global payments, from correspondent banking dependencies and settlement delays to restrictive cutoff times. The promise is straightforward: payments that settle in seconds and integrate directly with existing financial systems, rather than working around them.
“The vision is simple, empower anyone, anywhere to move money instantly,” Gupta said. “No correspondent banks, no settlement delays.” He added that the next three years will shape how money moves for decades, and that Polygon Labs is positioning itself to lead that shift from the front.
As blockchain infrastructure inches closer to the financial mainstream, Gupta’s elevation signals Polygon Labs’ intent to move from experimentation to execution and from potential to scale.
MAM
ITC YiPPee! Rolls Out Food Carts to Empower Uttarakhand Women
ITC’s YiPPee! gets the wheels turning for Uttarakhand’s newest micro-entrepreneurs.
MUMBAI: Forget the old adage about putting the cart before the horse, in the hills of Uttarakhand, the cart is the driving force. In a move that proves there’s more to instant noodles than just a quick snack, Sunfeast YiPPee! has cooked up a fresh initiative to turn homemakers into breadwinners. Under the banner of its ‘Better World Program’, the brand has rolled out a fleet of food carts to aspiring businesswomen, proving that the best route to empowerment is often a street-side view.
This January 2026, the programme set up shop in Uttarakhand, where it identified ten women ready to swap uncertainty for entrepreneurship. But this wasn’t a case of simply handing over the keys and hoping for the best. In partnership with the NGO Prayatna, the initiative treated the selection process with the rigour of a Masterchef audition. Candidates were screened for motivation and grit, ensuring that the beneficiaries weren’t just looking for a job, but were ready to run the show.
Once selected, the cohort underwent a bespoke training regime that would put many culinary schools to shame. The curriculum covered everything from financial management and customer handling to the nitty-gritty of food safety. By the time they hit the streets, these women were armed with FoSTaC Basic Catering Course and NSDC dual certifications, courtesy of the Food Industry Capacity & Skill Initiative (FICSI). To top it off, they were guided through the FSSAI registration maze, ensuring their businesses are as compliant as they are capable.
The result? A brigade of fully equipped, branded food carts hitting the streets, accessories included.
Snacks & Noodles unit at ITC Ltd. chief executive Ali Harris Shere noted that true dignity stems from economic independence. “We are focused on enabling women to achieve economic independence by equipping them with the capabilities, confidence, and resources needed to build resilient micro-enterprises,” he remarked, highlighting that the expansion into Uttarakhand is about cementing inclusive growth.
The local government has certainly developed an appetite for the scheme. Uttarakhand State Commission for Women president Kusum Kandwal praised the corporate-NGO tag team, noting that such efforts “complement government initiatives and strengthen our shared mission.”
This isn’t ITC’s first rodeo or rather, first roll-out. Over the past two years, the programme has been a lifeline for migrant women in Delhi NCR, helping them navigate out of vulnerable conditions and into self-reliance. It is a slice of a much larger pie; ITC’s multi-dimensional social investments have now touched the lives of over 6 million women across India, spanning education, employability, and enterprise.
For these ten women in Uttarakhand, the future is looking distinctly brighter. They finally have the ingredients for success, and for once, it’s not just about what’s on the menu, it’s about who owns the kitchen.
