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Nitin Gadkari to headline Times Drive Green Conclave & Awards 2024
New Delhi: Times Network Digital is set to host the Times Drive Green Conclave & Awards 2024 on November 27, 2024 in New Delhi. Under the theme, ‘Driving the future: Accelerating India’s Electric Mobility Revolution,’ the conclave will honour winners across 20+ categories and convene a stellar line-up of global automobile manufacturers, energy providers, tech innovators, and policymakers to explore scalable green mobility solutions. The chief guest, union minister Nitin Gadkari, will deliver a special address focussing on the future of EV’s and the adoption of scalable green mobility solutions to drive India’s towards a sustainable and future-ready transportation ecosystem.
Times Drive Green, a Times Drive initiative powered by Times Network Digital champions clean fuel vehicles and sustainable mobility, covering EVs, hybrids, hydrogen-powered vehicles, and supporting infrastructure like batteries and charging networks. Through its website and YouTube channel, it informs consumers and facilitates dialogue among industry stakeholders and policymakers, driving the shift from internal combustion engines to scalable, clean mobility solutions aligned with India’s sustainability goals
The Times Drive Green Conclave & Awards 2024 will feature a series of expert panel discussions, addressing critical themes shaping the future of electric mobility in India. Diverse topics will include New-Age Mobility Innovations & Future Trends: Fuelling the Future from EVs to Hydrogen and Hybrid Solutions, Policy and Financial Incentives for Green Mobility: Paving the Way with Regulatory and Financial Roadmaps, and EVs: The Key Challenges and Opportunities Ahead.
The conclave will bring together industry experts including Preetesh Singh, Specialist CASE, Nomura Research Institute; Maxson Lewis, Founder & CEO, Magenta Mobility; Madhumita Agrawal, CEO & Founder, Oben Electric; Randheer Singh, CEO and Founder, ForeSee Advisors; Akshay Kashyap, Vice President, Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles; Ajay Agarwal, Co-Founder,Driveo Electric Mobility; Ashim Sharma, Senior Partner & Group Head Business Performance Improve Consulting, Nomura Research Institute; Rajeev Chauhan, BYD VP, BYD, E-Passenger Vehicles; Vivek Srivatsa, Chief Commercial Officer, Tata Passenger Electric Mobility; Shailesh Hazela, CEO & MD, Stellantis India, and Gaurav Gupta, Deputy MD, JSW MG Motors.
The Times Drive Green Conclave & Awards 2024 will be live streamed on Times Now’s YouTube channel, 6pm onwards.
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.
