MAM
In memoriam: Nirmal Suchanti- The man who made financial communication fashionable
MUMBAI:In the buttoned-up world of financial communication, few dared to inject creativity into compliance. Nirmal Suchanti was the exception that proved the rule, transforming a stodgy sector into something resembling art.
The patriarch of Concept Communication Ltd, who died on 26 May aged 81, was a man who saw opportunity where others spotted only red tape. At a time when mainstream advertising agencies treated financial services like radioactive material, Suchanti had the audacity to make equity investments accessible to millions of Indians who had never heard of a prospectus, let alone read one.
“Communication can never be ‘just a business’,” his son Vivek Suchanti, now chairman and managing director, recalls his father saying. “It should be about creating trust and empowering people with knowledge.”
This wasn’t corporate waffle – it was Suchanti’s operating philosophy, one that built not just an advertising agency but an entirely new communication paradigm.
Born on 28 January 1944, Suchanti possessed that rare combination of business acumen and genuine warmth that made him as comfortable in boardrooms as he was sharing chai with junior colleagues. His door remained perpetually open, not merely for business but for advice, laughter, and the sort of human connection that corporate India often forgets to prioritise.
Those who knew him describe a man who listened more than he spoke, guided without imposing, and led with empathy rather than ego. In an industry notorious for its sharp elbows and sharper tongues, Suchanti’s approach was refreshingly different – he called spades, spades, certainly, but did so with enough grace to maintain relationships rather than torch them.
His measure of success wasn’t found in balance sheets but in the carefully nurtured relationships that spanned generations. Colleagues became confidants, clients became friends, and even casual acquaintances found themselves valued in ways that left lasting impressions.
I remember meeting him in his office in Nariman Point (if I correctly recollect the location, or am I confusing it with the office of Pressman Advertising run by Niren and Navin Suchanti), as a young journalist in the late eighties and early nineties and spending a few hours chatting with him. I was with BusinessWorld then working as chief sub-editor of the magazine. And he had no business giving me that time, running a busy agency as he was at the height of the investment frenzy that had hit the bourses. But he did. For that I am thankful. He presented me with a memory I hold as a treasure to this day.
As an increasing number of pioneers of the investment, advertising, and business community call it a day on earth, it reminds us of age that is creeping on us silently. Their passing reminds us of human frailty and that we are indeed caught up in the circle of life – and death.
“Dad, your spirit lives on in every life that you have shaped,” Vivek wrote in a heartfelt LinkedIn tribute that has garnered widespread attention in advertising circles. Along with his brother Vineet, Vivek promises to follow their father’s footsteps “with sincerity, humility and integrity” – qualities that made Nirmal Suchanti not just a successful businessman, but a genuinely beloved figure.
In death, as in life, Suchanti’s legacy transcends the bottom line. He proved that even in finance – that most prosaic of sectors – there was room for creativity, compassion, and the sort of human touch that no algorithm can replicate.
(PAINTED PICTURE OF NIRMAL SUCHANTI COURTESY VIVEK SUCHANTI LINKEDIN PAGE)
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.
