MAM
WATConsult’s Rajiv Dingra launches RD&X
NEW DELHI: Rajiv Dingra (previously founder and CEO of WATConsult, a digital agency part of global network Dentsu International) has announced the launch of his latest entrepreneurial venture, RD&X Network — a deep-tech network that will drive brand, business, media and data transformation helping businesses globally become real-time, disruptive, and thereby achieve exponential growth.
RD&X Network endeavours to leverage the impending deep tech and business model disruption across marketing, advertising, media, and business consulting with its unique transformational offerings. An initial corpus of $10 million has been committed for its organic and inorganic growth worldwide. Aiming to be a geography agnostic and remote-first company, its expansion plans include strategic acquisitions and investments in early-stage companies in areas of deep tech, gig economy, mar-tech, and ad-tech. Parallelly, in-house flagship solutions are also currently under development.
While the India hub will serve as a global capability centre powering shared services and technology, there will be three international hubs in the US, EMEA, and SEA respectively. These hubs will function as centres of excellence offering brand, business, media, and data transformation services. RD&X Network is currently in advanced stages of discussion with multiple disruptive early-stage companies in each of these markets to join the network and plans to be fully operational across global markets by the end of Q2 2021.
RD&X Network founder and CEO Rajiv Dingra said, “This decade belongs to deep tech disruption and every organization around the world will need to evolve through transformation to stay relevant today and grow in the future. We believe that the gig economy coupled with deep tech will create new business models that are agile and effective to scale globally. The disruption caused by the pandemic provided us with a huge opportunity of building a global network in the new normal. The impact of COVID-19 has accelerated the necessity for businesses to rapidly adopt technologies like AI, Blockchain, Robotics, XR, and IoT to navigate an uncertain future. We are already seeing early-stage companies at the forefront of this disruption and we are excited by our ongoing discussions with them. We look forward to such disruptive companies becoming a part of our network.”
Rajiv started his entrepreneurial journey at the age of 20 in 2005. He founded his second venture WATConsult in 2007 which became a globally awarded digital agency from India with a team of 400 people. In 2015, he sold the majority stake in WATConsult in a successful multi-million dollar exit and became a part of the global advertising network Dentsu International. He stepped down from his position of Founder & CEO after 13 years in January 2020. During his time at Dentsu International, he played a key role as a lead member of the Digital Council and the Executive Board.
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.
