MAM
Mauj launches multiplayer bluetooth mobile games
MUMBAI: Wireless solutions provicer Mauj Telecom has launched the next generation mobile games in India. Mauj’s games will enable players to play with each other in real time over a bluetooth connection between their phones.
The eight games launched include – Fowl Play, Beyond Speed Limts, Temple Combat, Even Strokes, Snakes and Ladders, Capture the Soldier, Tennis Smash & Air Hockey. These games are priced between Rs. 100 to Rs. 150. The games are available via operator portals: IDEA’s Ideafresh, BSNL’s CellOne Galaxy and MTNL’s Funstation, also via shortcode 7007 on Hutch, Idea, BSNL and MTNL.
This social multiplayer gaming will take mobile gaming in India to the next level. Imagine a situation where you and your colleague could be sitting in adjoining cabins and playing a real time car racing game against each other or in a café in different areas and indulging in one-to-one combat on the mobile game in real time and full colour action. All your competitors’ actions get displayed on your screen and vice versa, stated an official release.
Says Mauj COO Arun Gupta, “I believe this is a treat for hardcore gamers in India. Mauj has always been at the forefront of innovation, incorporating the latest technologies. We decided to launch our games using Bluetooth as it is one of the most widely used mobile technologies worldwide. With this, mobile gaming in India has truly come of age. We will be introducing more such games in the coming months.”
Mauj head of technology Ashay Padwal added, “Mobile games have recently emerged and the Indian market is ripe for introduction of Bluetooth-enabled multiplayer games. In any multiplayer game, the gamers play against Artificial Intelligence as compared to a Bluetooth where gamers go head to head against each other, hence the experience is far more engrossing and challenging.”
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.
