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Virat Kohli dons new avatars in MuthootFinCorp’s latest TVC campaign
Mumbai: MuthootFinCorp aka Muthoot Blue, a homegrown non-banking financial company and flagship entity of MuthootPappachan Group has launched its latest campaign called ‘Mera Gold Loan, Mera Interest’ featuring star cricketer Virat Kohli. The TVC campaign will be amplified with a 360-degree campaign across television, digital content, social media, and OOH integrations during the ongoing Tata IPL.
The ad spot showcases Kohli in three different avatars, along with other players of the IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). MuthootFinCorp has been associated with RCB as the team’s title sponsor for the third successive year.
The core message of the campaign appealed to the customers as they can exercise their freedom while choosing their interest rate. Kohli dons the roles of a teacher, umpire and doctor in a rib-tickling way in multi-lingual TVCs which showcased three different fun-filled scenarios with the former India captain explicitly appealing with the line ‘mera gold loan, mera interest. Abkhudchunoapni interest rate.’
“MuthootFinCorp, has always been the pioneer in bringing out innovative campaign thoughts aimed at helping the common man to improve their financial well-being,” said MuthootFinCorp Ltd director Thomas George Muthoot. “As the pandemic has subsided to a relatively low level and businesses are inching back to normal, we are launching a special scheme ‘Mera Gold Loan, Mera Interest’. This would help them to plan their finances better and would help them improve their livelihood.”
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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.
