MAM
DDB Mudra appoints Shaleen Sharma as VP for TracyLocke India
MUMBAI: DDB Mudra Group has appointed Shaleen Sharma as TracyLocke vice president, strategic planning & analytics.
Reporting into TracyLocke head- business & operations Sameer Mehta, Sharma will be the lead strategist across the agency’s clientele and service offerings that includes shopper marketing, trade marketing and retail solutions.
Having worked across various categories, he brings on board a significant understanding of consumer engagement, brand management and building strategic marketing platforms that combine digital, media and entertainment domains.
Sharma is currently working on the development of a qualitative tool that reveals human needs and motivations and places them in a contextual and cultural framework. The primary application of this tool is about driving a deeper connect between brands and their consumers. He has also developed a real time web analytics tool that is capable of integrating all the brand variables, like sales, click through rates, foot falls etc.
“There are pivot points in life, where you realize, quite clearly, what is the next set of challenges you want to solve and the kind of people you want to work with. Tracy Locke, and by extension the DDB Mudra Group, signifies that pivot for me. Everything they are engaged with, be it, their client portfolio, the kind of work they are doing and the ambition they have for their future, makes me realize that my next opportunity for value creation lies here. It will be a privilege to be a journeyman with this Brotherhood,” said Sharma.
Mehta added, “At TracyLocke, we believe in Bottom-Up grass roots approach to enable our clients with a business solution, which is powered by the shopper insights. Shaleen brings in relevant experience in shopper engagement strategies aligning it with brand management and building strategic marketing. His understanding and expertise on digital will only add to our vision of providing technology led shopper insights and shopper experiences encompassing path-to-purchase across the retailers and e-tailers.”
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.
