Brands
Haier becomes title partner of JioHotstar Match Centre for T20 World Cup
MUMBAI: Haier Appliances India is bringing more than just cool tech to the pitch. The global appliances giant, ranked No. 1 for 17 consecutive years, has signed on as the title partner of Match Centre Live on JioHotstar for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, running from 7th February to 8th March.
Match Centre Live is India’s biggest digital cricket show, offering fans every delivery, decision, and discussion through sharp analysis, expert banter, and compelling storytelling. Streaming across multiple languages including English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bangla, Bhojpuri, Marathi, and Haryanvi, it ensures a truly pan-Indian reach.
For Haier, this partnership is more than just branding. It forms a key part of their sport-o-tainment strategy, designed to connect with young, tech-savvy, premium consumers through marquee sporting events. Cricket’s unrivalled passion and popularity in India make it the perfect arena to engage millions of fans.
Haier Appliances India president NS Satish said, “Cricket is a national emotion that brings people together. Partnering with Match Centre Live lets Haier connect with fans at scale while creating meaningful experiences for young, premium audiences.”
As title partner, Haier’s logo and branding will feature prominently across the show, from studio screens to branded tickers and promos with JioStar talent. This visibility across connected TV and mobile devices reinforces Haier’s image as a premium, innovation-led global brand while keeping it front of mind during one of India’s most watched sporting events.
In short, Haier isn’t just watching the cricket action unfold, they’re part of it, serving up a match-winning blend of sport, entertainment, and technology.
Brands
Rakesh Menon joins Paytm as avp – lending
Fintech product leader takes on new role after building digital lending, payments and credit products across fintech ecosystem
MUMBAI: Rakesh Menon has joined Paytm as assistant vice president – lending, taking on a new role focused on strengthening the company’s lending and credit products.
Prior to this, Menon worked at Profectus Capital Pvt Ltd as chief manager – payments based financing and digital lending.
At Profectus, he designed and launched digital credit products for merchants with variable cash flows, including overdraft-linked and revenue-share lending models. He led end-to-end LOS–LMS API integrations with payment partners and aggregators, enabling real-time underwriting, disbursal and repayment workflows.
He also worked on funnel optimisation initiatives using journey analytics, improving onboarding, KYC and disbursal conversion by 35 per cent. He developed ecosystem partnerships for transaction-data-based credit assessment and automated settlement systems, and collaborated with credit and data science teams to strengthen risk models and early delinquency detection.
Menon standardised partner onboarding and API frameworks, reducing go-live timelines by 40 per cent and improving digital scalability.
Before Profectus Capital, he worked at PayU as senior manager – presales lead – enterprise business from August 2022 to August 2023. He set up a national presales function for fintech and digital commerce clients, aligning solutions such as EMI, BNPL, BBPS and offer engines to merchant requirements.
He also helped improve conversion rates by around 15 per cent through merchant persona mapping, demo frameworks and structured sales playbooks, working closely with product and go-to-market teams.
From April 2019 to July 2022, Menon served as business unit head – SMB – direct acquisitions at Worldline, where he built the SMB online payments vertical from scratch. The business scaled to Rs 2,500 crore in annual transaction volume, growing at 45 per cent year-on-year.
During this period, he introduced paperless onboarding processes including eKYC and eSign, developed partner dashboards and CRM automation systems, and integrated platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce and Tally to expand merchant adoption.
Across roles, Menon has worked across digital lending, payments and merchant financing, with experience in product development, ecosystem partnerships, API integrations and fintech-led growth strategies.
At Paytm, he will focus on scaling lending products and strengthening digital credit infrastructure within the company’s financial services ecosystem.
His appointment comes as fintech firms continue to expand their lending and embedded finance offerings in a competitive market.
