MAM
What The Hell? wins 140 million Payworld account
MUMBAI: Delhi based creative agency What The Hell? (WTH?) has bagged the creative duties for electronic voucher distribution system provider Payworld. The brand‘s creative mandate was with Grasshoppers prior to this.
The account size is in the range of Rs 140 million and the focus of spends will be on online/digital and BTL activities.
No pitch was called for the account and the decision was made after WTH? approached the e-commerce company with its ideas, the agency said. The move comes in preparation to the company‘s plans to diversify in the money remittance and mobile payments segment.
Payworld COO Praveen Dhabhai said, “With new services and verticals being launched we were looking for a strategically strong and creatively excellent partner. That‘s where we found What The Hell? fitting in with their strong hold and sound knowledge on online and digital marketing domain will give us an edge.”
WTH? Director Dhiraj Kumar added, “It‘s a great win for WTH? The buying behaviour of the Indian Janta is shifting towards online at a very fast pace. Hence, it would be interesting for us to carve a niche for Payworld in the domain. With Payworld diversifying into mobile payments, the account win becomes a lot more exciting.”
WTH? strategic planner- digital and new media Aman Mishra said, “Payworld will be an exciting account to work on. Online and digital will be the key. Mobile is a very exciting space to work in. Planning digital and interactive things for it would be fun.”
Payworld, a 40 year old company, is a part of Sugal and Damani Group and have diverse interests ranging from hospitality, real-estate and jewellery to broking travel and tourism and engineering.
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.
