Digital
Fino Payments Bank becomes Rajasthan Royals’ digital banking partner
Mumbai: Fino Payments Bank has announced that it has renewed its association with Rajasthan Royals (RR) for season 16 of India’s biggest premier cricket competition. Fino Bank will be RR’s official digital banking partner.
The Bank made its maiden foray with the mega sporting event last season by partnering with RR as the Digital Payments Partner. The new season’s engagement is expected to be a notch higher as the Bank aims to connect with RR’s large fan base across social media platforms to increase its digital footprint. Importantly, the newly launched FinoPay digital savings account is expected to get more traction through this engagement.
As the digital banking partner, along with the core messages of convenience, accessibility, proximity and trust, the bank would be looking to drive brand visibility and increase FinoPay app downloads. The app helps open a digital savings account, an everyday banking account for routing small, daily spends. Har Din Fino, as the Bank says.
Fino Payments Bank MD & CEO Rishi Gupta said, “Partnerships are critical for our success. Our tie up with Rajasthan Royals last season was an innovative first for us that allowed our brand to engage with cricket lovers across the country. We value this relationship and are excited to renew our association that helps take our engagement with the team’s fan base to the next level. It will be a win-win proposition as we continue connecting with new customer segments and create avenues for cricket fans to explore Fino’s digital banking and savings account offerings.”
“We are delighted to be renewing our association with Fino Payments Bank for the upcoming season. We were extremely pleased with the positive impact we had on the successful expansion of their financial services across the country, especially the far-reaching areas, given the ever-growing need for digital transformation. We are looking forward to accelerating their overall growth in Rajasthan and other parts of India,” said Rajasthan Royals CEO Jake Lush McCrum.
Fino Payments Bank chief marketing officer Anand Bhatia said, “There are synergies in our brand values. Both the brands are a lot about consistency, competency, sincerity and being very down to earth. And importantly always take a long term view of things. Season 16 of the league is a great platform to promote our digital banking proposition, FinoPay. The excitement of engaging with a younger tech savvy audience and sense of pride in the association all works well for both. With RR establishing a base in Guwahati, North East is another common point as it is a growth market for both brands.”
Sportytrip CEO Adarsh Reddy, who has been working with Fino Bank and RR said, “This season Fino Bank is not only engaging with RR on the premier stage but is powering grass root level talent hunt through “Cricket Ka Ticket”. This initiative is aimed at finding India’s next cricketing super star across both men and women talent.”
Rajasthan Royals has a strong and loyal fan base across the country, especially in smaller towns. During the 2022 season, by engaging with RR’s fans across social media platforms Fino Bank improved the quality of its customer base and reduced costs by 20 per cent.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
