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Mahindra names Rohit Thakur group CHRO as Ruzbeh Irani retires
MUMBAI: Mahindra Group has named Rohit Thakur as group chief human resources officer, effective 2 April 2026, following the retirement of long-serving HR chief Ruzbeh Irani.
Irani, who has spent more than 19 years with the group and sits on Mahindra’s group executive board, will retire at the close of business on 1 April 2026 on reaching the age of superannuation.
Thakur, currently CHRO for Mahindra’s auto and farm sector, will join the group’s senior management with his new role. He brings extensive experience across technology, consulting and industrial companies, having previously served as CHRO at Accenture India, Microsoft India and GE across multiple business units. He has also led HR at startups including Paytm and Lead School.
He holds a commerce degree from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi, and an MBA in human resources from XLRI Jamshedpur.
Mahindra said Irani had played a pivotal role in shaping the group’s people strategy over nearly two decades, overseeing talent development and organisational culture across its diverse businesses.
The transition follows the group’s succession plan and is aimed at ensuring continuity as Mahindra navigates its next phase of growth.
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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.
