MAM
Neel Pandya joins Pyxis One as CEO, APAC
Mumbai: Pyxis One, a start-up providing AI infrastructure for marketing, appointed Neel Pandya as the new CEO of its APAC business. Pandya succeeds Shubham Mishra, who will now take on the role of global CEO.
In his new role, Pandya will take over the APAC business to strategise and expand operations to manage and navigate Pyxis in the region. He will also play a pivotal role in ramping up hiring for Pyxis One across departments. This year, Pyxis is looking at boosting their hiring by 30 per cent under Pandya’s leadership, the company said in a statement.
“Neel is one of the sharpest minds our country has,” said Shubham Mishra. “He sees and believes that AI infrastructure for marketing is all set to transform the way we approach business growth itself. We have started expanding into the Americas and Europe faster than we expected and having Neel with us will make our expansion efforts a lot smoother.”
Pandya is a seasoned marketing professional who has global experience and a deep understanding of the APAC regions. He joins Pyxis One from Loreal, where he performed as the youngest head of media and digital.
“It’s going to be a positively challenging position as Pyxis makes its mark across the global landscape and APAC operations begin to ramp up multi-fold,” Pandya said on his new role.
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.
