eNews
NFDC and Netflix partner to launch “The Voicebox”
Mumbai: National Film Development Corporation, a public sector enterprise under the aegis of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MoIB), has joined hands with Netflix India to launch an upskilling program for voice-over artists in India called “The Voicebox”.
The occasion was graced by Shri. Sanjay Jaju, Secretary, MoIB, Vrunda Desai, joint secretary (Films), MoIB, Shri. Aditya Kutty, legal director, Netflix, Freddy Soames, head of competition policy, Netflix, and Sharad Mehra, chairman, Pearl Academy, among others.
Today at Shastri Bhawan, Prithul Kumar, managing director, of National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and joint secretary (Broadcasting II), MoIB and Kiran Desai, general counsel, and senior director – of business and legal affairs, Netflix India, signed the MoU to formalise the partnership, which aligns with NFDC and Netflix’s combined vision to promote Indian cinema and nurture talent in the Media and Entertainment industry.
“The Voicebox” program will offer Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) training for voice-over artists focusing on English, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Gujarati languages. As part of the program, structured workshops, which would include training (featuring guest lectures and mentoring sessions), followed by an assessment, will be conducted in seven major cities of India – New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Kochi. Each batch would accommodate up to 30 candidates, with 210 participants selected through preliminary screening. At least 50 per cent of the participants will be women.
Pearl Academy, India’s leading design institute will join as a Training Partner for this program. Seven top participants from every batch will be chosen to contribute to Netflix’s special project, “Azaadi ki Amrit Kahaniya”, where they will lend their voices to narrate stories reflecting the Indian independence movement.
The program is open to professionals, preferably women, with more than two years of experience in the media and entertainment sector, who are eager to enhance their skills in voice-over.
This Voicebox program is sponsored by the Netflix Fund for Creative Equity, which has dedicated $100 million a year over five years to setting underrepresented communities up for success in the TV and film industries through programs all around the world.
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.
