MAM
The Mumbai Marathon lures media professionals
MUMBAI: The 2014 edition of the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon drew media professionals like a fish to water. A whole bunch of executive right from broadcast to media agencies to marketers to advertising professionals donned their sports shoes, and pinned their numbers to their T-shirts, and pounded the streets as they joined 40,000 other runners to test either the Dream Run, the half marathon or the entire distance.
Among those who woke themselves early on 19 January included: Meenakshi Menon (she and 10 others ran for an NGO Vanashakti), Suki Dusanj, Times Television Network CEO Sunil Lulla, former Indiagames CEO Vishal Gondal, Mindshare’s Jai Lala, Vizeum India head S. Yesudas, Sahara group’s Kailashnath Koppikar, Sapna Bhavnani, MindShare’s Rajit Desai, Sony Entertainment’s Deep Drona, Star India’s Kevin Vaz, Lashmi Narasimham, Bharat Kapadia, Mindshare’s Amin Lakhani, Paritosh Joshi, HDFC Life’s marketing head Sanjay Tripathy, CNBC TV18 marketing head Suranjana Ghosh Aikara.
Some of them ran for charity; some to challenge themselves. Their facebook accounts and twitter posts were replete with their individual experiences and how they bettered their previous best times. Or how they braved aches and pains to complete the course they had set for themselves.
Rajit Desai completed his first half marathon in 2 hours 47 minutes, a feat which he felt was not spectacular, but “satisfying for a debut.” Jain Lala wore the number 34377 on his jersey and had all his colleagues and friends going ga-ga over him. Sony’s Deep Drona ran his half marathon in 2 hours 4 minutes and 9 seconds. Said he: “Bettered last year by 2 mins. Great result compared to the work put in this year.”
Viacom18 Pictures Ajit Andhare ran with his friends from the times of his GE days and also to promote the studios upcoming Abhay Deol film. Yesudas hit the asphalt for the half marathon, adding to the tally of long distance races he has participated in. Entertainment Network India Ltd (ENIL – Radio Mirchi) CEO Prashant Panday completed his half marathon in 1 hour 53 minutes, which is by all standards a good time for a non-professional runner.
Media industry veteran and now marketing consultant Bharat Kapadia says he ran his seventh consecutive half marathon and completed it in 2 hours 17 minutes.
Viacom18 Media group CEO Sudhanshu Vats, on his part, ran the full marathon in a classy time of just under four hours.
Times TV’s Sunil Lulla did well too. Said he: ” Mumbai Half Marathon, 2014. My first and I am grateful to complete it in. 1 hr: 54 mins: 29 sec , ranking 650 overall and 78 in Veteran. I pledged a healthy sum of money to CMCA, and am glad I could deliver on my promise. Thank You.”
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.
