Pranav Soni promoted to associate vice president of government affairs at Paytm

NOIDA: Pranav Soni has just notched up another rung on a career spent navigating the corridors of power, quite literally. He has been promoted to associate vice president for government affairs and public policy at Paytm, a little over two years into his stint with the fintech major.

Soni’s Paytm journey began in December 2023 as lead for government affairs and policy, before he stepped up to general manager last June, and now to the AVP’s chair. It’s the kind of swift, sector-hopping ascent that comes from having sat across the table from regulators in power, telecom and life sciences before fintech ever entered the picture.

Before Paytm, Soni spent over four years at Edelweiss Financial Services, climbing from chief manager to AVP and finally deputy vice president of government affairs and policy, cutting his teeth on regulatory affairs and policy advocacy in the financial sector. Earlier still, he handled corporate affairs at Jubilant Generics and put in nearly five years at Vodafone as manager of corporate affairs, where crisis management and regulatory liaison work were all in a day’s job. His grounding came even earlier, at RLG Group and Lanco, building the liaison channels, media management and reputation-protection instincts that policy professionals spend entire careers trying to perfect.

Soni was quick to credit the leadership’s backing and his colleagues’ camaraderie for the latest leg-up, though anyone glancing at his CV will know the real story: this is a policy operator who has spent fourteen years learning exactly how Delhi works, and is now putting that knowledge to very good use for one of India’s biggest fintech names.