MAM
Sequoia Capital hires Gayatri Vasudeva Yadav as CMO
MUMBAI: She built her reputation as a solid marketer building Star India, along with her boss Uday Shankar, as chief marketing officer and president – strategy & innovation. Now the dynamic marketing professional Gayatri Vasudeva Yadav has joined Sequoia Capital as chief marketing officer for India and south east Asia.
Says Yadav: “I am honoured to join Sequoia Capital India and help daring founders build legendary companies and brands. This is a seminal point of time in the development of the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem and there is a massive opportunity to create global brands out of the region. I am excited to join this amazing team and partner with an incredibly talented set of founders in achieving this mission.”
Sequoia Capital has, meanwhile, announced that it has completed other hires: Shweta Rajpal Kohli as head of public policy and Ajey Gore as operating partner, technology.
Sequoia Capital managing director Shaliendra Singh put out a post on LinkedIn welcoming the new joinees. He added that Gayatri will additionally be working closely with the group’s portfolio CMOs to help them launch and grow brands.
Highlighted Singh: “The team at Sequoia Capital India feels massively privileged to welcome industry leaders like Gayatri, Ajey and Shweta to our team. Their contributions will undoubtedly benefit dozens of founders and startups across India and SEA and make a dent in the years to come.”
Sequoia India has invested at the very early stages in many startups including Citrus, Druva, Faaso's, FreeCharge, Grofers, Healthkart, India Shelter Finance, Mobikwik, Pine Labs, Practo, Prizm Payments, Scio Health and Zilingo.
Sequoia India recently closed its sixth fund, at $695 million, which will be used to double down on investments in both early and growth stage companies in the technology, consumer and healthcare sectors across India and southeast Asia.
It has worked with many founders including Amit Kumat of Prataap Snacks, Ankiti Bose of Zilingo, Ankur Jain of Bira, Byju Raveendran of Byju's, Chatri Sityodtong of One Championship, Deepinder Goyal of Zomato, Dhiraj Rajaram of Mu Sigma, Girish Mathrubootham of Freshworks, Jaspreet Singh of Druva, Kunal Shah of Freecharge, D. Lakshmipathy of Five Star Finance, Lokvir Kapoor of Pine Labs, Nadiem Makarim of Go-Jek, Rajul Garg of GlobalLogic, Ritesh Agarwal of OYO Rooms, Shashank ND of Practo, VSS Mani of JustDial, William Tanuwijaya of Tokopedia.
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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.
