Brands
Ezeepay’s Banking Mitras fuel rural jobs and digital reach
Fintech network widens access, backs women entrepreneurs
MUMBAI: Ezeepay is taking banking to the back roads and bylanes, turning small shops into digital lifelines for communities that often sit outside the formal financial grid. Through its expanding Banking Mitra network, the fintech platform is not only delivering essential services to rural and semi urban pockets, it is also quietly stitching together new livelihoods along the way.
At the heart of the push is a simple idea. Equip local retailers with digital tools, and they become the neighbourhood’s go to counter for banking, payments, and insurance. From Aadhaar enabled withdrawals and domestic money transfers to bill payments and micro insurance, these outlets now offer a mini bank experience where traditional branches are few and far between.
The ripple effect is visible in the form of self employment. As the network grows across tier 2, tier 3, and rural India, it is opening doors for thousands of small entrepreneurs. Women, in particular, are stepping into the role of Banking Mitras, turning kirana counters and small retail points into hubs of financial activity.
Ezeepay co-founder and chief executive Shams Tabrej, said the network is designed to do more than just process transactions. He noted that the initiative is helping women entrepreneurs gain confidence in fintech tools, strengthen their businesses, and create sustainable sources of income in their communities.
The effort also aligns with the government’s She Mart announcement in the Union Budget 2026, which aims to promote women led enterprises and self help group businesses. Ezeepay’s approach combines digital infrastructure, financial literacy training, and income opportunities, giving local retailers the tools to grow while bringing more people into the formal financial system.
With its last mile model, the company is betting that the next wave of digital adoption will not come from big cities, but from the country’s smaller towns and villages. And if its Banking Mitras have their way, the future of finance may arrive not through a bank branch, but across the counter of the local shop.
Brands
Dunkin’ Donuts to exit India as Jubilant FoodWorks ends 15-year franchise deal
The quick service restaurant giant is ending a 15-year franchise partnership with the American doughnut chain, even as it renews its Domino’s agreement for another 15 years
NOIDA: Dunkin’ is done in India. Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, the country’s leading quick service restaurant operator, has decided not to renew its franchise agreement with the American coffee and doughnut chain, and will wind down its Indian stores in a phased manner before December 31, 2026, bringing a 15-year partnership to a quiet, loss-laden close.
The decision, approved by JFL’s board on March 30, 2026, ends a relationship that began with a Multiple Unit Development Franchise Agreement signed on February 24, 2011. JFL will now evaluate and undertake what it described in a regulatory filing as the “rationalisation and/or cessation of certain operations and/or sale, transfer or disposal of assets and/or assignment or transfer of franchise rights,” all in consultation with Dunkin’s brand owners and strictly within the terms of the original agreement.
The numbers tell the story bluntly. In the financial year 2024-25, Dunkin’ India posted a revenue of Rs 37 crore against a loss of Rs 19 crore — a haemorrhage that was always going to test the patience of a parent company recording revenues of Rs 6,104 crore and a profit of Rs 194 crore in the same period. Doughnuts, it turns out, were never going to move the needle.
The contrast with JFL’s handling of its other marquee franchise could hardly be sharper. Even as it walks away from Dunkin’, the company has just doubled down on Domino’s, signing a fresh Master Franchise Agreement on March 31, 2026, granting it exclusive rights to develop and operate Domino’s Pizza stores in India for 15 years, with an option to renew for a further 10.
JFL, incorporated in 1995 and promoted by the Bharatia family, operates a network of more than 3,500 stores across six markets — India, Turkey, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Its portfolio includes Domino’s and Popeyes on the global side, and two home-grown brands: Hong’s Kitchen and COFFY, a café brand in Turkey.
For Dunkin’, India was always a stretch. The brand never quite cracked the cultural code in a market where filter coffee and chai command fierce loyalty and where the doughnut remains, at best, an occasional indulgence rather than a daily habit. Fifteen years, mounting losses and a parent with better things to spend its capital on was always going to be a difficult equation to solve.
The doughnut has had its last day. The pizza, however, is staying.
