MAM
TV, radio to air spots against bidi smoking
NEW DELHI: Two public service announcements (PSAs) are to be aired on all major radio and television channels under the National Tobacco Control Programme as part of its mass media campaign on bidi smoking and the association with cardio-vascular diseases.
The campaigns by the Health and Family Welfare Ministry will be first government sponsored mass media campaign anywhere in the world that links bidi smoking to CVD.
The campaign has been developed with technical support from the World Lung Foundation, and the spot has been field tested in different settings. The main message of the campaign is – ‘Quitting smoking is hard, but the consequence of not quitting is harder’.
The campaign ad comprises two PSAs – ‘Heartbreak’ and ‘Surgeon’. While heart break has 15, 30 and 45 second versions, the surgeon PSA has only a 15 seconder. These PSAs will also be supported by radio. This nationwide campaign will be aired during August. It has been dubbed in 14 regional languages for pan India coverage.
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
