eNews
Anthropic names Irina Ghose managing director for India
CALIFORNIA: Anthropic has appointed Irina Ghose as managing director for India, underlining the artificial intelligence start-up’s intent to deepen its presence in one of the world’s fastest-growing technology markets.
Ghose joins Anthropic after a 24-year career at Microsoft, most recently serving as managing director of its India business, a role she held for two years before stepping down in December 2025. Her appointment comes as global AI firms race to secure leadership, talent and customers in India.
Backed by Google and Amazon, Anthropic plans to open its first India office in Bengaluru in early 2026. India is already the company’s second-largest market for its AI chatbot Claude, with usage driven largely by technical and developer-focused applications such as programming.
With more than a billion internet users and rapidly rising enterprise adoption of artificial intelligence, India has become a critical battleground for global technology companies seeking scale, data and long-term growth.
eNews
PNB partners Kiwi to launch credit-enabled UPI for users
Targets 180 million customers; RuPay card offers 0.5 per cent to 1.5 per cent cashback
MUMBAI: Swipe, tap, or scan credit is quietly slipping into the rhythm of everyday payments, and Punjab National Bank wants in on the action. The state-run lender has partnered with Kiwi to roll out credit-enabled UPI payments for its 180 million customers, marking a significant push to blend traditional banking with India’s fast-evolving digital payments ecosystem.
At the centre of the collaboration is the launch of the PNB Kiwi Credit Card on the RuPay network. The card is designed with a digital-first approach, offering fully online onboarding and seamless integration with UPI, allowing users to transact via scan-and-pay while accessing credit.
The offering also brings in a rewards layer, with cashback ranging from 0.5 per cent to 1.5 per cent on online transactions, positioning the product as both a convenience play and a spending incentive.
The move comes as UPI continues to dominate India’s digital payments landscape, increasingly blurring the lines between debit-led transactions and credit access. For PNB, which operates over 10,000 branches around 60 per cent in semi-urban and rural areas, the partnership signals a targeted effort to extend formal credit to segments that have traditionally remained underserved.
The collaboration also reflects a broader industry shift, where banks and fintech platforms are converging to embed credit directly into payment flows, reducing friction while expanding access.
With RuPay credit cards gaining traction and UPI evolving beyond peer-to-peer transfers, the PNB–Kiwi tie-up positions both players at the intersection of scale, accessibility, and the next phase of digital finance in India.
