MAM
WPP’s tenthavenue appoints Sudipto Roy as CEO, Emerging Markets
MUMBAI: WPP’s global communications company, tenthavenue, has appointed Sudipto Roy as CEO of Emerging Markets, covering Asia, Africa, Middle East and Turkey.
Roy will lead tenthavenue across high growth established markets, including China, South East Asia, Hong Kong, South Africa, and drive tenthavenue’s expansion into new markets, including Turkey, Middle East and Japan.
Based out of Singapore, Roy will begin his new tenure in mid-April. Roy spent a significant part of his career in various leadership roles within Mindshare across India, APAC and Africa. These include chief client officer, chair of the Product, Service and Partnerships council, and as client lead for Unilever across APAC, Africa and Turkey, where he played a key role in global leadership of the account.
In the last two years, he spearheaded the partnership drive at Mindshare across diverse domains such as big data, mobility, emerging consumer marketing, content and word of mouth marketing, marketing data and visualisation technologies, as well as orchestrating the creation of new products and revenue streams.
Tenthavenue founder and CEO Rupert Day said, “This appointment comes at a time when we are refocusing our vision for the future. We have had a fantastic start over the last four years, and we want to remain nimble, agile and focused for the next five. By recruiting Roy, we are continuing the energy and direction tenthavenue requires to keep growing, and to keep building winning propositions. Roy is a pivotal part of our APAC management team, and has the right experience to help us realise our strategic ambition to become the best ‘connected experiences’ company in the world. His deep knowledge of the emerging markets, of the technology landscape and his ability to connect the dots to drive new age partnerships is the perfect combination for a company like ours.”
Roy added, “tenthavenue is poised to create a highly differentiated marketing services model for the future. The company has an inherent strength in out-of-home experiences, on-the-go experiences and mobility. That’s the perfect combination for a new age services model as consumers spend less time in front of the TV and desktop and become mobile. The ambition is to forge the units under one strategic umbrella and together become the best ‘connected experiences’ company in the world, driven by deep consumer data and personalisation of content. This vision, combined with the deep entrepreneurial energy in the company, is what has attracted me to join tenthavenue.”
Launched in 2011, tenthavenue now operates across over 55 offices in 25 countries. Based on the four key pillars of data, content, technology and media, tenthavenue builds products and services that enable advertisers to create connected brand experiences. As parent to WPP’s ‘Connected Consumer’ agencies, the tenthavenue agency family consists of market leaders and rising stars in their respective fields, including Kinetic, Aviator, Joule, Spafax, Candyspace, Forward and TMARC.
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.
