MAM
Lions Health 2014: O&M India brings home a Silver
MUMBAI: Ogilvy & Mather India’s ‘Cleft to Smile’ campaign for Operation Smile India has bagged a Silver in the first year of Lions Health.
Click here to watch the campaign… Lions Health which is supposed to be world’s largest healthcare communications awards handed over 66 Lions from over 1400 entries across Pharma and Health and Wellness categories, including two Grand Prix.
Dentsu Nagoya (Japan) was the only Grand Prix winner for the night. The agency won the top award for its entry ‘Mother Book’ for Kishokai Medical Corporation.
Click here to watch the campaign… The ‘Grand Pix For Good’ was given to Leo Burnett Colombia Bogota for its campaign, ‘Cancertweets’ for League against Cancer.
Click here to watch the campaign… A total of 1423 entries from 49 countries competed in the inaugural awards, making Lions Health the most important creative awards globally in this sector. Two juries consisting of 25 industry professionals judged these entries. Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness global chief creative officer Kathy Delaney, led the Health & Wellness jury, while McCann Health global chief creative officer Jeremy Perrott, presided over the Pharma jury.
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.
