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Baidu India to hold International university marketing competition
MUMBAI: Baidu’s India office today announced its participation in Baidu Inc.’s first International University Marketing Competition. The competition, which aims to empower the next generation of marketers, will be open to university students in India, China and Indonesia.The Indiaportion of the campaign will encourage local university students tocreateshort marketing videosfor a chance to intern at Baidu’s New Delhi office, and visit the company headquarters in Beijing.
The competition was formally announced at an opening ceremony in Beijing on 16 May. In addition to India, the competition willalso be open to students in China and Indonesia.“The Internet is changing the world quickly, and there’sa huge need for digital marketing talent,” said Baidu’s Educational Business Unit general manager Zhang Gao. “The International University Marketing Competition is a platform for all students to put their best foot forward and showcase their creative ideas”.
To participate in the India campaign, university students will first need to create a video on Baidu’s new video app Talebox. Outstanding videos will then be shared on Baidu’s app store MoboMarket and held to a public vote to select the final winners. The India competition will be held from August 1st to September 30th, 2016.
The Baidu India team plans to visitup to 100 universities across India duringAugust and September to raise awareness for the campaign and engage with local students. The planned visits will cover universities inmany major Indian cities, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Kanpur, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.
For more information on how to take part in the competition, please follow the Baidu India Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/baiduindia/
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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.
