eNews
Wynk Studio acknowledged for enabling independent artists in India
Mumbai: In recognition of its outstanding contribution to the Indian independent music industry, the Indian Independent Record Labels Association (IIRA) has awarded Wynk Studio team for its efforts and significant contribution towards supporting and recognising the Indian independent music industry.
Wynk Studio has been organising workshops, sessions and across the country with an aim to engage with independent artists and onboard them on Wynk Studio. Wynk Music has also created a special playlist with the songs of these artists to drive their discovery and streams. This has led to an increase in the number of independent artists from across the region joining the platform and finding a wider audience for their music.
In addition to this, Wynk Studio had five of its independent women artists perform at the Hornbill Music Festival. These women artists got an opportunity to showcase their talent at the prestigious music platform where the festival audience enjoyed the popular hits of these artists. Wynk Studio artists who featured at the music festival are – Raveena Paul, Reena, Sugandha Garg, Himani Kapoor and Bawari Basanti.
Wynk Studio now has over 2000 artists. Wynk helps drive discoverability for their songs, enabling the artists to monetize their music and build thriving careers in the music industry. The Wynk Music app functions as a great enabler to offer these artists a creative outlet while solving monetisation and discovery issues for them.
Wynk Rewind 2023 placed artists like Aditya Rikhari in Hindi, Mali in English, Harsha Prawin in Telugu, AR Anandh in Tamil, Dheemusix in Kannada and Raj Burman in Bengali as some of the leading indie artists of the year who have been trending on the app.
In 2023, Wynk supported the distribution of independent singles such as “Love Token” from Manj Music and Anusha Dandekar, “Billo” from Vishal Dadlani and Nikhita Gandhi’s single “Pyaar mein Pagal”, along with helping independent producers build scale such as LGF Studios whose movie “Love All” starring Kay Kay Menon and Swastika Mukherjee was promoted on the platform.
Wynk continues to endeavor towards driving language and artists diversity on its music app and has been consistently adding independent artists and music from across languages to its platform. This year, 55 per cent of sign-ups on Wynk Studio have been from non-metro cities including smaller towns of the North-East highlighting how the platform has been a great enabler for independent artists from all over the country, especially tier 2 and tier 3 cities. This also enables Wynk to deepen its content library with diverse languages that these artists champion.
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.
