MAM
John Abraham is Samsung Mobile’s brand ambassador
MUMBAI: Technology firm Samsung has launched its new, sporty bar type colour phone the SGH C210 in the Indian market. The company states that the SGH –C210 is the lightest bar type phone in its category.
It has some useful power packed features like 65K UFB LCD Colour Screen, Java, Wap, GPRS for internet connectivity, MMS messaging capabilities and a 1000 phonebook and a 200 SMS memory.
Bollywood star John Abraham will be this phone’s brand ambassador. The director of Samsung’s Telecom division HC Ryu says, “We welcome John as Brand ambassador for Samsung Mobiles. John is trendy and cool and his youthful appeal will be leveraged to bring out the style and functional superiority of Samsung Mobiles.”
Abraham says, “I am happy to be associated with Samsung Mobiles. Samsung phones are sporty and cool and that’s probably why you see the younger generation using Samsung phones. For me, form follows function and I’m happy to say that the Samsung SGH C-210 is functionally as cool as it looks”.
Ryu adds, “The classic colours, functional simplicity and superior ergonomics of the SGH C 210 make it a truly superior communication solution.” The SGH C210 too has been customised to better meet the needs of Indian consumers.
This phone supports seven regional Indian language menus including Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati and Kannada. The C210’s embedded emoticon box lets the user to express himself / herself with dozens of expressive symbols while messaging.
Samsung,is aiming to fuel its growth in the Indian mobile market through new feature rich handset introductions, strategic operator tie ups as well as by enhancing its penetration in the Indian market. In the first half of this year itself, Samsung has introduced 14 new advanced, innovative colour phones in the Indian market. Last month, Samsung India gave a boost to its mobile distribution network by appointing the Bangalore based, United Telelinks as its national distributor for mobile phones in the country.
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.
