MAM
HP enters digital entertainment segment with Pavilion PCs
BANGALORE: Hewlett Packard India (HP) has launched in New Delhi their new range of HP Pavilion PCs to enter the digital entertainment segment.
Featuring the one hub remote control, the new HP Pavilion PC range offers consumers one-button remote access to all their home entertainment needs, whether it is to play, record and pause live television; watch and control DVDs; listen to and store music; share digital photos and movies or gain access to computer games and music on demand, states an official release.
The HP Pavilion also offers additional features like High – Definition video, online spotlight, LightScribe and Extreme DVD.
HP, VP Personal Systems Group Ravi Swaminathan said, “We see three very distinct consumer segments in the Indian PC market. The first segment wants a PC purely for Internet access and email. The next segment uses the PC for basic computing and entertainment. The third segment wants a lifestyle gadget, going way beyond just a mere PC. It is the demand in this segment that the new Pavilion range is aiming to fulfill.”
HP is looking at targeting consumers for this range through HP Experience Zones. At the Experience Zone, the consumer can touch, feel and experience the product before actually buying it. The store provides the consumer with a product experience exactly as if he/she was in his/her house using the product.
The company presently has 194 exclusive premium retail outlets in India and plans to open 50 more across the country by the coming year.
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.
