MAM
Viral goes viral at National Payments Corp RuPay unit
BENGALURU: The National Payments Corp of India (NPCI) has landed Viral Maru as its new head of RuPay, betting that her decade-long streak of making plastic fantastic will turbocharge India’s homegrown card network. Maru’s mandate? Transform RuPay from plucky underdog into a credit, digital and tokenised payments juggernaut that can slug it out with the Visa-Mastercard duopoly.
It’s a hire that makes sense. Maru has spent the better part of ten years making Indians swipe, tap and spend. Most recently, as vice-president and head of banking and payments at Fi, she steered the Neobank’s charge into cards and UPI. Before that, she spent five months at Tata Digital as director of strategic initiatives, having already put in two-and-a-half years launching the Tata Neu HDFC Bank credit card—an app-first assault on India’s loyalty ecosystem.
But it’s her nearly six-year stint at HDFC Bank that really sharpened her chops. As vertical head of digital acquisitions and innovation, she doubled online-sourced cards year-on-year, moved 80 per cent of physical sales to digitally assisted channels, and built API stacks that made card onboarding almost frictionless. She also championed tokenisation on Google Pay and Jio Pay, and launched instant card issuance—the sort of stuff that makes fintech types go weak at the knees.
Earlier, as product and portfolio head for Diners Club consumer cards at HDFC, she doubled acceptance coverage across India and dreamt up a self-sustaining 10X rewards programme that turned Diners into the card of choice for the swish set. She even put real-time lounge usage displays on point-of-sale terminals—an industry first that made airport lounges slightly less of a scrum.
Her career started at Axis Bank, where she launched online remittance platforms for the UAE, America, Britain, Singapore and Canada, and grew NRI accounts by 50 per cent year-on-year. A stint at Citibank India polished her acquisition and brand-building skills before she entered the big leagues.
Now, with NPCI’s backing and India’s digital payments infrastructure maturing at breakneck speed, Maru has her work cut out. RuPay may already be ubiquitous at petrol pumps and kirana shops, but cracking premium cards and credit is another game entirely. If anyone can make it happen, though, it’s someone whose career has quite literally gone viral.
MAM
PropertyPistol appoints Hemant Bajaj as chief marketing officer
Proptech firm taps global marketing leader to sharpen brand and growth strategy.
MUMBAI: In the fast moving world of proptech, building homes may be the business, but building the brand is just as crucial. Propertypistol, the proptech driven real estate advisory platform, has appointed Hemant Bajaj as its chief marketing officer (CMO) as the company looks to strengthen its brand narrative and accelerate growth across markets. Bajaj will lead the company’s marketing operations across multiple geographies, overseeing brand strategy, integrated marketing initiatives and revenue aligned growth programmes as Propertypistol prepares for its next phase of expansion.
The appointment comes at a time when the proptech sector is seeing rapid digital adoption, with companies increasingly focusing on leadership talent capable of combining technology, data driven marketing and customer experience.
Bajaj brings experience spanning India, South East Asia and the Middle East, where he has worked on scaling brands and leading digital transformation initiatives across multiple industries. His work in the marketing and media ecosystem recently earned him recognition as a ‘Powerhouse Leader’ at the Mastermind Awards in Dubai, highlighting his track record in managing high impact marketing mandates.
Propertypistol founder and managing director Ashish Narain Agarwal said the appointment comes at a pivotal stage in the company’s journey as it looks to strengthen its market presence.
“Hemant’s appointment comes at a defining moment for us. As we scale our market position, it is vital to have leadership that blends strategic vision with executional depth. Hemant’s deep understanding of brand and business alignment will be instrumental as we redefine the proptech landscape,” Agarwal said.
Bajaj said Propertypistol’s technology first approach to real estate advisory was one of the key reasons behind his decision to join the company.
“Propertypistol has established itself as a technology first platform that is redefining how investors navigate the property market. Having led marketing transformations across international borders and fast paced industries, I recognise the exceptional strength of the foundation built here,” he said.
He added that his focus would be on accelerating the company’s digital marketing capabilities while building strategies that deliver sustained value for customers and partners worldwide.
The leadership move reflects Propertypistol’s broader effort to strengthen its executive team as the proptech industry evolves rapidly. With property search, advisory and transactions increasingly shifting online, companies in the sector are investing heavily in marketing intelligence and digital platforms to stay competitive.
By bringing Bajaj on board, Propertypistol is betting that sharper brand positioning and technology led marketing will help it stand out in an increasingly crowded digital real estate marketplace.
