eNews
MIPTV announces call for entries for the 2024 MIP SDG Award
Mumbai: MIPTV announced a Call for Entries for the 2024 MIP SDG Award, the annual honour established in association with the United Nations to recognise the contribution of companies and individuals within the international audiovisual sector to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Recipients will be presented live on stage in Cannes at the 61 editions of the spring international television market (8 – 10 April 2024).
Created in 2020 in support of the UN’s Decade of Action campaign, to which the SDGs are central, the MIP SDG AWARD provides an international platform to showcase how progress towards these goals can be accelerated on or off the air, through editorial, campaigns and business practices. Previous winners include A+E Networks, ACT, Junk Kouture, Sky, and last year’s recipients, acclaimed natural history producers Silverback.
Two awards will be presented in 2024, the MIP SDG Award, and the MIP SDG Innovation Award, the latter in recognition of originality in endeavour or action. For the first time, applications will be accepted from organisations or individuals whose activity delivers against one or more of the SDGs for either award. The seventeen SDGs encompass areas including the reduction of poverty and inequality and improvement of health and education, in addition to tackling climate change and the preservation of the planet’s oceans and forests. Submission forms including full criteria, terms and conditions can be found here.
The deadline for entry is 2 February 2024.
Selections will be determined by a jury comprised of social responsibility experts and representatives from RX France. The presentation of both categories will take place in a special session showcasing the recipient’s work within the conference programme at the forthcoming MIPTV market.
The MIP SDG Award forms part of RX France’s ongoing commitment to the United Nations’ SDG Media Compact. Founded in 2018, the alliance of media and entertainment companies now numbers over 450 members from 160 countries who pledge to leverage their respective resources to amplify and accelerate progress towards achieving the SDGs.
“Television inspires change like no other medium, and the need to accelerate change globally has never been more evident,” said MIPTV director Lucy Smith. “The MIP SDG Award provides a platform to highlight purpose and ingenuity in these increasingly critical areas to an international audience of peers to then admire, learn from and emulate in their own way.”
United Nations Regional Information Center deputy director Caroline Petit added, “This MIP Award calls for more diversity in creative content related to the Sustainable Development Goals. It will encourage the international media industry to increase sustainable business practices on and off-screen. The MIP SDG Award will shed light on existing impactful media initiatives and audiovisual programming aligned with the global goals as well as inspire more companies and industry professionals to create attractive SDG-driven content.”
The three-day international MIPTV exhibition last year welcomed more than 5500 delegates from over 80 countries. The 2024 edition includes a pre-opening weekend (6-7 April) featuring extended MIPDOC and MIPFORMATS strands, creating ‘the biggest weekend in Unscripted’ in Cannes with documentary, factual and format communities gathering for two days of networking, screenings, showcases and deal-making. International Series Festival Canneseries will again run alongside MIPTV from 5-10 April 2024.
Award FAQ’s can be found here.
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.
