Brands
Truecaller empowers users with new ‘True’ identity
Mumbai: Truecaller, the world’s global communications platform unveils its new corporate brand identity with a redesigned brand logo and app icon. The new look and feel of the brand with a refreshed app icon reflects the essence of the Truecaller brand, making it much more distinctive which will be instantly recognizable anywhere. Interbrand, the world’s leading brand consultancy and Truecaller have conceptualised this together to create a governing idea and key insight that addresses people’s desire for clarity, confidence, freedom, and fulfilment.
The new brand identity is created with an intent to serve as an enabler and help drive a change for the users who are prone to vulnerabilities and increasing scams in the digital space. The tone of voice and colors of the redesign reflect the personality of the brand – trustworthy, straightforward and approachable as we strive to put the power back into the hands of the people to have more control over their life with safe communication.
“Today when brands are going out of their way to find their ‘purpose’, we don’t take lightly that we have purpose built into the core of our business. When we empower our users to take the right call, they in turn empower millions more by marking out fraud and spam calls. This flywheel of trust, powered by our 356-million strong global community, helps make communication a little safer every day. Our new positioning and brand identity is a reflection of this empowerment and trust.” said Truecaller VP global brand Ashwani Sinha.
Talking about the new identity, Interbrand India & South Asia CEO Ashish Mishra said “Brands are increasingly being built on new acts of leadership. In areas which concern the world and its people most. We found an opportunity in the pervasive disinformation that plagues our times. Truecaller perhaps is the best placed brand in the world to lead the empowerment of people, businesses, and communities through true information. Under this larger ambit of nobility laced with a touch of activism, lie the more tangible step ups of recognizability and smooth experience. A signature design system and UX audit to identify the experience gaps helped deliver these within the rebrand.”
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.
