MAM
Rage Communications appoints Neville Medhora as India business head
MUMBAI: Rage Communications has appointed Neville Medhora as its head of India business.
Medhora till recently, the head of Rediffusion-Y&R’s Mumbai office joins Rage Communications after a twenty-year journey that traversed across most of the leading advertising agencies in India.
Apart from Rediffusion-Y&R, Neville has had substantial stints with Equus, Saatchi & Saatchi, TBWA and JWT. In his extensive advertising stint, Medhora has worked with some of the largest and most successful brands in India across many categories.
Rage Communications director Karthik Kumar commented, “Neville’s joining Rage will add significant depth to Rage’s overall offerings in India and bring fresh thinking in the way digital will contribute to its clients building strong and sustainable engagements with their consumers.”
Commenting on his role, Medhora, said, “Indian marketing is on the cusp of change with respect to digital. Marketers are beginning to realize that digital can no longer be an esoteric activity on the margins, but has to be a key ingredient in the marketing playbook of any serious activity. As they realize this, they also discover that digital is not just ‘shoot-and-scoot’ advertising, but a completely new form of engaging with consumers that requires developing deep roots and sustaining it for meaningful impact.”
Neville further added, “Rage in its 20 years of existence has the necessary depth of both, the functional expertise and the technology skills to aid marketers traverse these new challenges, making it a natural choice for me!”
Neville caught the digital bug about six years ago and spearheaded key digital initiatives of clients within the boundaries of the traditional off-line format. Recognizing its inherent weaknesses, he took a sabbatical to learn the intricacies of the digital world. Neville joins Rage Communications fresh from this sabbatical.
Brands
YES Bank hands the keys to SBI veteran Vinay Tonse as it bets on a new era
Former SBI managing director appointed as YES Bank’s new MD and CEO
MUMBAI: YES Bank is done rebuilding. Now it wants to grow. The private sector lender has appointed Vinay Muralidhar Tonse as managing director and chief executive officer-designate, with RBI approval secured and a start date of April 6, 2026 confirmed. The three-year term signals the bank’s intent to shift gears from crisis recovery to full-throttle expansion.
Tonse, 60, is no stranger to scale. Most recently managing director at State Bank of India, he oversaw a retail book of roughly $800bn in deposits and advances, one of the largest in the country. Before that, he ran SBI Mutual Fund from August 2020 to December 2022, a stint that saw assets under management surge from Rs 4.32 lakh crore to Rs 7.32 lakh crore across market cycles. Add stints in Singapore and four years leading SBI’s overseas operations in Osaka, and the incoming chief arrives with a genuinely global CV.
His academic grounding is equally solid: a commerce degree from St Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bengaluru, and a master’s in commerce from Bangalore University.
The appointment follows an extensive search and evaluation process by the bank’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee. NRC chairperson Nandita Gurjar said the committee unanimously backed Tonse, citing his leadership track record, governance credentials and ability to drive the bank’s next phase of transformation.
Non-executive chairman Rama Subramaniam Gandhi was unequivocal. “I am certain that Vinay Tonse, with his vast experience as a senior banker, will propel YES Bank to its next phase of growth,” Gandhi said, adding that the bank remains focused on strengthening its retail and corporate banking franchises and expanding its branch network.
Rajeev Kannan, non-executive director and senior executive at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the bank’s largest shareholder, said Tonse’s experience across retail, corporate banking, global markets and asset management positioned him well to lead the lender. SMBC said it looks forward to working with Tonse and the board as YES Bank pursues its ambition of becoming a top-tier private sector lender anchored in strong governance and sustainable growth.
Tonse succeeds Prashant Kumar, who took the helm in March 2020 when YES Bank was in freefall following a severe financial crisis, and spent six years painstakingly stabilising the institution, rebuilding governance and restoring operational scale. Gandhi was generous: “The bank remains indebted to Prashant Kumar, who is responsible for much of what a strong financial powerhouse YES Bank is today.”
Tonse, for his part, struck a purposeful note. “Together with the board and my colleagues, I remain deeply committed to creating long-term value for all our stakeholders,” he said, pledging to build on Kumar’s foundation guided by his personal motto: Make A Difference.
Beyond the balance sheet, Tonse played cricket at college and club level and represented Karnataka in archery at the national championships — sports he credits with teaching him teamwork, situational leadership, discipline and focus. In quieter moments, he reaches for retro Kannada music, classic Hindi songs, and the crooning of Engelbert Humperdinck, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar.
YES Bank has its steady-handed rebuilder in Kumar to thank for survival. Now it has a scale-obsessed growth banker at the wheel. The next chapter starts April 6.
