eNews
Apple’s Tim Cook’s handpicked CFO Kevan Parekh takes office
MUMBAI: Is 12 a lucky number?
Some may question the logic, saying there’s no such thing as luck.
But a dozen years proved extremely good for Kevan Parekh, who was handpicked by Apple CEO Tim Cook to become the CFO of Apple during his twelfth year with the company. Just as the clock hit the 12 midnight mark in New York on 31 December and the ball was beginning to drop in Times Square, Kevan’s term as the CFO commenced.
Kevan, an Indian origin executive, joined Apple in June 2013 and has played a key role in its financial and business planning, and product development planning since then. Prior to becoming CFO, he served as Apple’s vice president of financial planning and analysis. Before that, he served as Apple’s vice president of worldwide finance, supporting a number of different functions throughout his tenure, including engineering, iTunes, marketing, retail, and sales.
His pay package is speculated to be $1 million a year, plus participation in the company’s executive cash incentive plan for fiscal 2025.
Kevan, succeeds Luca Maestri, who was appointed CFO in 2014, and he will be reporting directly to Cook. As CFO, Kevan will be overseeing Apple’s accounting, business support, financial planning and analysis, treasury, investor relations, internal audit, and tax functions.
Maestri on his part continues to be part of Apple overseeing its corporate services teams. His responsibilities will include managing information systems and technology, cybersecurity, and real estate and development.
Before joining Apple, Kevan worked for eight years with General Motors in New York and then Europe. He returned to New York to join Thomson Reuters and stayed put as vice-president of finance (professional division) and then as corporate treasurer till 2013.
Kevan has a solid academic background and holds a bachelor science degree in electrical engineering, and an MBA from the University of Chicago which he completed in 2000 with a major in finance and strategic management.
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.
