MAM
Afcom signs Concept PR as its communication partner
Mumbai: Concept Group’s Concept PR on Monday won the communication mandate of Chennai-based international cargo airline, Afcom Holdings (Afcom).
The agency will be responsible for strategic counselling, planning and programming, preparation of communication documents, maintenance and management of media relations and implementation through various PR tools.
Concept PR will also provide professional daily news monitoring services through Concept BIU, the media monitoring arm of Concept PR. Concept BIU, an ISO 9001:2015 certified company, is a trendsetter and a leader in public relations and corporate communications measurement, news monitoring, data analytics, and research. It provides various services and solutions to teams in corporations and PR agencies that manage the media reputation of business entities.
Speaking of the association, Concept PR managing director Ashish Jalan said, “We are happy with winning the Afcom’s communication mandate. For us, Afcom is not just a cargo airline but an end-to-end cargo solutions company. We see great promise in Afcom regarding its business strategy and outlook. We will endeavour to ensure that the right narrative is designed and disseminated to the right target audiences through a perfect deployment of both traditional and digital PR.”
Commenting on the partnership, Afcom Holdings chairman Capt. Deepak Parasuraman said, “We are delighted to be partnering with Concept PR. During the pitch process, we found them to be an agency that thinks differently and outside the box while still being flexible regarding the client’s expectations and budgets. In addition, they come with deep domain knowledge and understanding of the sector we operate in, which for sure works in our favour. We look forward to a long and fruitful alliance.”
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.
