MAM
Havas makes Sr level appointments in Mumbai & B’lore
MUMBAI: Havas’ creative vertical Havas Worldwide has brought on board Gaurav Soi and Tiraz Balaporia for its Mumbai and Bengaluru offices respectively.
While Soi has been roped in to handle duties as Havas Worldwide Mumbai vice president, Blaporia will be Havas Worldwide Bengaluru office head and vice president.
The duo will report in to Havas Worldwide west and south president Shavon Barua.
Confirming the news to indiantelevision.com, Barua said, “I am delighted to have them as a part of our team. At Havas WW we are focussing in bringing about a whole lot of new talent in our teams as our business continues to grow.”
Soi has spent 13 years in the advertising industry and has worked on a variety of brands and categories during this tenure like Saffola Oil and Salt, ITC Expressions Greeting Cards, VST, BPL Mobile, Frooti, Appy Fizz, Dainik Bhaskar Group, AUDI, Suzlon Energy Limited, Reliance Mutual Funds, Cox & Kings, and Fortis Healthcare. He also has experience with events and activations.
Balaporia’s previous stint was with Bates where he had been for a year and a half and worked on brands like Tata AIA, TVS, Fiat, Ashok Leyland, and Park Avenue. This is his second innings at Havas Worldwide (earlier Euro RSCG) where he spent six and a half years as a part of both, Mumbai and Bengaluru teams. While in Euro RSCG he handled brands like HDFC Payment Cards, Emirates, Sanofi-Aventis, Bhaskar Group, BPCL Allergan, and IBM.
“With close to 13 years of work experience across multiple bands and categories he has been appointed Office Head with a mandate to take the Bangalore Office to greater heights, picking up where he left off from,” informs Barua.
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.
