MAM
Naturals Salon signs up Genelia D’Souza as brand ambassador
MUMBAI: Family salon and spa and a pan-India brand in the hair and skin care service industry Naturals has signed up Bollywood actress Genelia D‘souza as its brand ambassador.
The actress will represent the salon chain and spread its core value to the customers highlighting its services that fulfill their beauty needs.
The company said that D‘Souza is the right fight to represent the brand as it has an image which appeals to people who are young at heart and high on aspirations.
She will feature in Naturals‘ new campaigns through mass media and promotional events that will emphasise on the greater benefits and quality of the salon chain providing best service at affordable price in a friendly ambience.
“I am proud to represent Naturals for I trust the brand that provides the best for hair care and beauty needs. I take this as an opportunity to communicate on the significance of presentable outlook as confidence starts with it,” D‘Souza said.
She has worked in movies like Chance Pe Dance and Mere Baap Pehle Aap in Hindi and also in South Indian films including Uthama Puthiran, Santosh Subramaniam in Telugu; Urumi in Malayalam and Satya In Love in Kannada.
Naturals Beauty Salon India CEO K Veena said, “We were looking for a popular young and vibrant personality having mass appeal, especially among the youths of the country. We decided to make our own customer as our brand ambassador instead of going out on a search hunt. So we zeroed in on Genelia who is Naturals‘ regular customer. She can better reach out to masses with core values both as an actress and as our customer.”
On the salon chains‘ growth she said that Naturals‘ commitment and dedication to the services has helped it grow from just a 10 member team a decade ago to presently a leading brand in the country. “Now our Naturals family has 2500+ employees supporting its growth across 125+ pan-India salons that woo a strong patronage from commoners to glittering stars of the cinema world. We have signed up with 50+ salons more and they are to be operational soon,” Veena added.
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.
