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In partnership with Ideabrew Studios, Asian Paints brings special podcast ‘Madhur Smriti’
Mumbai: Paint and décor major Asian Paints on Thursday announced its association with Ideabrew Studios to launch ‘Madhur Smriti,’ a podcast series highlighting Durga Puja and commemorating the international recognition bestowed on the festival by Unesco as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
The series is part of the Sharad Shamman, the festive initiative by Asian Paints where they felicitate the best and most creative pandals across Kolkata. Sharad Shamman has been associated with Kolkata’s Puja festivities since 1985.
With Madhur Smriti, Asian Paints collects and shares memorable stories and experiences of people surrounding Durga Puja and its festivities. It takes the listener on a journey through time and commemorates the colourful four decades in the history of Kolkata’s Durga Puja.
The podcast series of ‘Madhur Smriti’ will be available on Spotify, JioSaavn, Gaana, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music and BingePods.
Speaking on the launch, Ideabrew Studios co-founder & CBO Agith G Kuruvilla said, “Madhur Smriti literally means Sweet Memories, and this podcast endeavours to take us through a trip down memory lane as we revisit the last 4 decades of the colourful festivities of Kolkata’s Durga Puja. Asian Paints Sharad Shamman is an institution and has contributed immensely in preserving and encouraging this festival, and it’s an honour to celebrate that.”
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.
