MAM
#BoycottIPL trends as Vivo retains title sponsorship
NEW DELHI: Talk about brand image and India’s favourite sporting tournament, Indian Premier League (IPL), has found itself in a tough spot after the news of it retaining Chinese mobile brand Vivo as its title sponsor came out last evening. Soon after, #BoycottIPL started trending across social media sites.
There has been a great rise in the anti-China sentiment in India following the Galwan valley clash between the South-Asian neighbours at the beginning of June. People have been boycotting Chinese goods and the announcement has left a sour taste in the fans’ mouth, who were eagerly waiting for the tournament to start, which was delayed because of the Covid2019 pandemic.
BCCI Treasurer Arun Dhumal reportedly told PTI, "When you talk emotionally, you tend to leave the rationale behind. We have to understand the difference between supporting a Chinese company for a Chinese cause or taking help from Chinese company to support India's cause. When we are allowing Chinese companies to sell their products in India, whatever money they are taking from Indian consumer, they are paying part of it to the BCCI (as brand promotion) and the board is paying 42 per cent tax on that money to the Indian government. So, that is supporting India's cause and not China's.”
However, the audience is possibly not buying the logic, as they are swarming Twitter with their displeasure:
#boycottipl everyone is doing their partwhy can't them? pic.twitter.com/22OkRCDLFI
—Rab (@bhartiyachad) August 2, 2020
#boycottipl
I'm a huge IPL fan, especially @mipaltan. But I won't watch until they change this decision.#IPL2020 pic.twitter.com/Hozsz7yzuO— Soham Parmar (@Defier_52) August 2, 2020
Shame on @BCCI @IPL for not scrapping Chinese companies (including @Vivo_India ) from sponsorship.
Your business and hunger for money is more important than the lives of 20 martyrs. Good to see.@KirenRijiju @PMOIndia should look into the matter.#boycottIPL #shameonBCCI— Hritam Nath (@Nathu_vai) August 2, 2020
Why @BCCI going and licking Chinese ass…they didn't get any sponsor in india…Dont have shame…They are killing our Soldiers still going and taking sponsor…#BoycottIPL https://t.co/8PaOPeik1C
— Sriram Iyengar (@sriramnarasim) August 2, 2020
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
