MAM
Maruti in $ 1 million sponsorship deal for cricket World Cup website
MUMBAI: ICC internet partner Indya.com kicked off its campaign for the globe’s biggest cricketing carnival with the official launch today of its World Cup dedicated website cricketworldcup.com.
The launch coincided with the confirmation that car major Maruti had come on board the site as presenting sponsor for cricket’s headline event. In what is being termed as the biggest online advertising deal negotiated in India in recent times, Maruti has committed somewhere in the region of $ 1 million (Rs 45 million) for the privilege of owning “most of the real estate” on the site, sources close to the developments say.
Ajay Vidyasagar, Star India executive vice-president content and communications, while refusing to offer any comment on the size of the deal, said: “Maruti has made a significant investment in partnering with us and this is the only engagement we are announcing for the present.”
“Maruti has always been at the cutting edge of technology and have always been open to explore and experiment with new ideas,” NDTV Media CEO Raj Nayak, whose company has been given the mandate to sell advertising for Indya.com for the World Cup, said. “I think this is a testimony to the power of the worldwide web,” Nayak added.
It may be recalled that earlier, the sponsorship packages on offer involved one presenting sponsor and four associate sponsors. This has all changed because of the size of the deal Indya has negotiated with Maruti. There will now be far less inventory available for other potential sponsors than had been originally envisaged, Vidyasagar explained.
Speaking about cricketworldcup.com, Vidyasagar said, “We are committed to provide the most comprehensive and definitive website of the game during the tournament and assure our users an online experience that they will find unparalleled.
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
