MAM
Wing Communications to handle Advait Infratech’s PR mandate
Mumbai: Wing Communications has won the communications mandate for Advait Infratech—a Gujrat-based Infratech on Wednesday. It provides robust products and solutions for power transmission, substation, and telecommunication infrastructure and is hoping to expand into green/renewable energy by 2023.
Wing Communications will be providing a range of services, including managing the brand’s strategic PR, media relations, and corporate PR and reputation management across India through incisive campaigns.
Commenting on the development, Advait Infratech founder and managing director Shalin Seth said, “Wing Communications has established credentials, diversified experience across sectors and a deep understanding of the infrastructure industry, which makes them an excellent partner to drive our communications. With a team that has a seamless nationwide and international network, impeccable industry stewardship, and expertise in communicating the value of a company and linking them to concrete results, we’re looking forward to strengthening our communication and presence in the Infratech domain.”
“Advait Infratech is an institution that is proudly making strides in building the nation and strengthening the core of our economy, and we are extremely proud to be a partner with this transformational brand in their public relations journey. With this mandate, we are looking forward to going beyond traditional PR. We will be helping Advait Infratech with thought leadership campaigns that will not only help them in engaging with the audience in the digital space and building their online footprint, but will also give them a remarkable boost in their rapid growth journey,” said Wing Communications CEO and co-founder Shiva Bhavani.
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.
