Brands
RBI’s system overhaul gets Central Banking’s digital transformation award
MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s central bank, has scored a double whammy at the Central Banking the global authority for central bank information and news 2025 Awards. The publication awarded two of its digital transformation initiatives – Sarthi (charioteer) and Pravaah (smooth flow) in the digital transformation category on 13 March.
The RBI had brought in these systems to substitute mind-numbing paper-pushing processes which had plagued it, replacing them with sleek digital workflows.
The Sarthi system, which went live in January 2023, has turned the RBI’s internal workings into a well-oiled machine,
Staff can now store and share documents securely without the load of managing paper files.
Tasks previously requiring manual handling now flow through digital channels.
Managers can keep tabs on work progress without breathing down employees’ necks.
Replaces the hodgepodge of systems previously used across 40 plus offices and 13,500 staff.
Meanwhile, Pravaah, launched in May 2024, allows external users to submit regulatory applications electronically a proper game-changer that,
Digitised 70 plus regulatory applications across nine RBI departments.
Boosted application submissions by a whopping 80 per cent monthly.
Created transparency with dashboards showing application status.
Linked seamlessly with Sarthi for end-to-end digital processing.
The digtisation has yielded impressive results. Sarthi now has over 10,000 active users with up to 5,000 logging in daily, while Pravaah processed more than 2,000 applications between May and December 2024.
The digital makeover has turned the 90-year-old paper-pushing behemoth into a tech-savvy operation. Staff who once shuffled papers are now happily clicking away, supported by ‘Sarthi Pathshala’ (school) for training and ‘Sarthi Mitras’ (friends) who help colleagues navigate the brave new digital world.
With enhanced cyber security monitoring, improved collaboration, and the promise of future innovations including cloud computing, the RBI has proven you can teach an old dog new tricks and rather splendidly at that.
Prime minister Narendra Modi applauded the win by India’s central bank by posting on X, “A commendable accomplishment, reflecting an emphasis towards innovation and efficiency in governance.”
Brands
Godrej clarifies ‘GI’ identifier after logo similarity debate
Says GI is not a logo, will not replace Godrej signature across products.
MUMBAI: In a branding storm where shapes did the talking, Godrej is now spelling things out. Godrej Industries Group (GIG) has issued a clarification on its newly introduced ‘GI’ identifier, addressing questions around its purpose and design following a wave of online criticism. At the centre of the debate were two concerns: whether the new mark replaces the long-standing Godrej logo, and whether its geometric design mirrors other corporate identities.
The company has drawn a clear line. The Godrej signature logo, it said, remains unchanged and continues to be the sole logo across all consumer-facing products and services. The ‘GI’ mark, by contrast, is not a logo but a corporate group identifier intended for use alongside the Godrej signature or company name, and aimed at stakeholders such as investors, media and talent rather than consumers.
The need for such a distinction stems from the 2024 restructuring of the broader Godrej Group into two separate business entities. With both continuing to operate under the same Godrej name and signature, the identifier is positioned as a way to differentiate the Godrej Industries Group at a corporate level.
The rollout, however, triggered a broader conversation on design originality. Critics pointed to similarities between the GI mark’s geometric composition and logos used by companies globally, raising questions about distinctiveness.
Responding to this, GIG said its intellectual property and legal review found that such overlaps are common in minimalist, geometry-led design systems. Basic forms such as circles and rectangles appear across dozens of brand identities worldwide, the company noted.
It added that the identifier emerged from an extensive design process and was chosen for its simplicity, allowing it to sit alongside the Godrej signature without competing visually. While acknowledging that elemental shapes may appear less distinctive in isolation, the group emphasised that the mark is part of a broader identity system that includes a custom typeface, sonic branding and other proprietary elements.
Following legal and ethical assessments, the company said it found no impediment to using the identifier, reiterating that the GI mark is a corporate tool not a consumer-facing symbol.
In short, the logo isn’t changing but the conversation around it certainly has.
