Latest news with #ShivnathThukral
Mint
23-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
PhonePe rolls out two co-branded credit cards with SBI
Fintech firm PhonePe has rolled out two cobranded credit cards in partnership with SBI Card, largest pure-play credit card issuer. The two new products are PhonePe SBI Card Purple and PhonePe SBI Card Select Black. This marks the second such partnership by PhonePe after its earlier tie-up with HDFC Bank. These credit cards are issued on the RuPay and Visa networks, and are looking to broaden formal credit access while offering rewards on everyday spends. RuPay variants are UPI linkable, enabling seamless use across millions of merchants nationwide, while the Visa cards can be tokenised on the PhonePe app for secure digital use. Targeting the rising demand for integrated credit and payments, the PhonePe SBI Cards offer accelerated reward points on groceries, travel, utility payments, insurance premiums and in-app PhonePe transactions. The Select Black card, positioned as a premium variant, offers up to 10 per cent value back on PhonePe and Pincode app spends and 5 per cent on other online transactions. Purple cardholders can earn up to 3 per cent and 2 per cent respectively on the same categories. Additional benefits include welcome e-gift vouchers — ₹ 1,500 for Select Black and ₹ 500 for Purple — alongside annual travel vouchers, fuel surcharge waivers and complimentary domestic lounge access. In another news, PhonePe named former Meta India public policy head Shivnath Thukral as its vice president for public policy and government affairs. "Shivnath will be responsible for leading PhonePe's external engagement and discussions with policy makers and regulators," the company said in a statement, adding that he would work closely with founders Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari. Disclaimer: Mint has a tie-up with fintechs for providing credit, you will need to share your information if you apply. These tie-ups do not influence our editorial content. This article only intends to educate and spread awareness about credit needs like loans, credit cards and credit score. Mint does not promote or encourage taking credit as it comes with a set of risks such as high interest rates, hidden charges, etc. We advise investors to discuss with certified experts before taking any credit.
Mint
15-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
PhonePe names ex-Meta India public policy chief Shivnath Thukral as VP for public policy, govt affairs
Reuters Updated 15 Jul 2025, 11:10 AM IST Indian digital payments firm PhonePe on Tuesday named former Meta India public policy head Shivnath Thukral as its as vice president for public policy and government affairs. The Walmart-owned payments platform is preparing to go public. Thukral's seven-year stint at Meta ended in June. "Shivnath will be responsible for leading PhonePe's external engagement and discussions with policy makers and regulators," the company said in a statement, adding that he would work closely with founders Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari.
Time of India
15-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
PhonePe appoints Shivnath Thukral as vice president of public policy
Walmart-owned PhonePe has appointed Shivnath Thukral as the vice president for public policy and government affairs, according to a company statement on this role, Thukral will engage policymakers and regulators on policy decisions affecting the financial services industry. He will be part of the leadership team at PhonePe and work closely with founders Sameer Nigam and Rahul Chari Thukral has worked with Meta as its vice president of public policy, where he looked after regulatory issues related to technology and financial appointment comes as the digital payments platform prepares for a $1.5 billion public market debut. The company may file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for the initial public offering (IPO) by is eyeing a valuation of $15 billion with the public listing, significantly higher than its last private valuation of $12 billion in 2022, it redomiciled to India from Singapore to ensure required compliances ahead of listing. It has also moved the ownership of its recently acquired IndusOS Appstore (OSLabs Pte Ltd) from Singapore to is the market leader in Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions in India. In June, the platform handled 8.55 billion transactions and a total value of Rs 11.99 lakh crore, which is 46.5% of the total volume and 50% of the value. In comparison, the entire UPI network logged 18.4 billion transactions worth Rs 24.04 lakh crore during the UPI operators have been demanding a merchant discount rate on transactions through the payments ecosystem to help monetise it. The finance ministry has, however, turned down any such demands. PhonePe gets 95% of its revenue from digital payments and UPI payments is a core aspect of that business.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
After Google, Meta loses public policy head in India
Meta's head of public policy in India, Shivnath Thukral, is leaving the social networking company, nearly three and a half years after joining, and just months after his counterpart at Google stepped down. Thukral spent over seven and a half years at Meta and took over as public policy lead for the South Asian market — the company's largest user base — in November 2022, after his predecessor Rajiv Aggarwal left. 'Having helped build some of the systems and processes, I do feel it is a good time to let the engine and the team work on their own. As my next journey begins, I want to recognize the work of my team, which is the best in business and one of the reasons why this is such a difficult decision for me,' Thukral said in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday. Thukral's exit comes just months after Meta won relief in India over WhatsApp's 2021 data-sharing policy, which had earlier resulted in a five-year ban by the country's antitrust regulator. The company had warned that the antitrust ruling could force the rollback of its features. Nonetheless, Meta, which has the biggest user base for Facebook and WhatsApp, and the largest market for its Meta AI usage in India, still faces regulatory challenges as the country moves toward enacting its anticipated data privacy rules that may require parental consent to serve children. Meta also faces criticism from Indian telcos, as WhatsApp has over 500 million users in the country, and a large segment of them uses the instant messaging service instead of traditional telecom services for communicating over text, voice, and video calls. Similarly, WhatsApp is often criticized for not restricting spam on its platform in India, although the app did bring changes that were touted to restrict unsolicited business communication. 'It is not an easy decision to make, but I feel very confident that our policy engagement with stakeholders is at a credible and constructive juncture, and we can only build further on that. There is always more to do, and I know the team is well equipped to navigate the waters well,' Thukral wrote. Meta confirmed to TechCrunch that the company has not appointed Thukral's replacement. In February, Google's policy head, Sreenivasa Reddy, quit. Reddy had replaced former Indian antitrust official Archana Gulati, who resigned in 2022 just five months after joining. Google has not yet appointed a replacement for Reddy, and his exit occurred amid the search giant's antitrust cases in the country, some of which are yet to be settled. 'Shivnath Thukral is leaving Meta to pursue new opportunities,' said Kevin Martin, Meta VP and head of global policy, in a prepared statement. 'As a member of the India leadership team, he played a key role in navigating and shaping policy and regulatory conversations and engagements that were critical for the industry and Meta in India over the last 7.5 years. We thank him for his leadership and contributions, and wish him well in his future endeavors,' he added.
TechCrunch
11-06-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
After Google, Meta loses public policy head in India
Meta's head of public policy in India, Shivnath Thukral, is leaving the social networking company, nearly three and a half years after joining, and just months after his counterpart at Google stepped down. Thukral spent over seven and a half years at Meta and took over as public policy lead for the South Asian market — the company's largest user base — in November 2022, after his predecessor Rajiv Aggarwal left. 'Having helped build some of the systems and processes, I do feel it is a good time to let the engine and the team work on their own. As my next journey begins, I want to recognize the work of my team, which is the best in business and one of the reasons why this is such a difficult decision for me,' Thukral said in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday. Thukral's exit comes just months after Meta won relief in India over WhatsApp's 2021 data-sharing policy, which had earlier resulted in a five-year ban by the country's antitrust regulator. The company had warned that the antitrust ruling could force the rollback of its features. Nonetheless, Meta, which has the biggest user base for Facebook and WhatsApp, and the largest market for its Meta AI usage in India, still faces regulatory challenges as the country moves toward enacting its anticipated data privacy rules that may require parental consent to serve children. Meta also faces criticism from Indian telcos, as WhatsApp has over 500 million users in the country, and a large segment of them uses the instant messaging service instead of traditional telecom services for communicating over text, voice, and video calls. Similarly, WhatsApp is often criticized for not restricting spam on its platform in India, although the app did bring changes that were touted to restrict unsolicited business communication. 'It is not an easy decision to make, but I feel very confident that our policy engagement with stakeholders is at a credible and constructive juncture, and we can only build further on that. There is always more to do, and I know the team is well equipped to navigate the waters well,' Thukral wrote. Meta confirmed to TechCrunch that the company has not appointed Thukral's replacement. In February, Google's policy head, Sreenivasa Reddy, quit. Reddy had replaced former Indian antitrust official Archana Gulati, who resigned in 2022 just five months after joining. Google has not yet appointed a replacement for Reddy, and his exit occurred amid the search giant's antitrust cases in the country, some of which are yet to be settled. 'Shivnath Thukral is leaving Meta to pursue new opportunities,' said Kevin Martin, Meta VP and head of global policy, in a prepared statement. 'As a member of the India leadership team, he played a key role in navigating and shaping policy and regulatory conversations and engagements that were critical for the industry and Meta in India over the last 7.5 years. We thank him for his leadership and contributions, and wish him well in his future endeavors,' he added.
