MAM
Vishnu Telang joins Khushi Advertising with 50% stake
MUMBAI: Cinema advertising and mall and multiplex branding company Jaguar Services‘ Vishnu Telang is now a 50 per cent equity stake holder in Khushi Advertising.
In a 17-year career, Telang contributed to building Jaguar Services into the leading player with pan India presence and a team of more than 100 professional. He was one of the first few people to convince marketers and theatre owners and build this market as a relevant media for effective communication.
Telang said, “The multiplex and mall revolution has just begun with hundreds of new properties and cities to be added in the next few years. In Khushi Advertising I have a like minded dynamic partner – they already have a pan India presence and impressive inventory in multiplexes, malls, shopping centres, clubs and department store, everything a client would want in his ambient media plan.”
Khushi Advertising founder Pranay Shah said, “In the last five years Khushi has already expanded across 19 cities in India. With Vishnu coming on board with his vast servicing and industry experience, we can look at reaching the next level in business deliveries. For our clients, it will mean a new chapter in service orientation, result-oriented creativity and complete ambient media solution.”
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.
