MAM
No turnaround in ad spends despite bullish market sentiment
MUMBAI: The business sentiment may have turned positive following a slew of FDI policies but advertisement spends are not going to change dramatically.
The festival season has already begun but the advertisement spends are not as anticipated. The slowdown in ad spends since the beginning of this year will see no recovery yet, experts said.
“This festive season is pretty in its run and the mood is not very great. The advertising spends are not up to the kind of
expectations, there is still a slowdown,” said Allied Media COO P M Balakrishnan.
He said as far as the reforms by the government are concerned, “it’s the steroid put in the economy to create the right sentiment.”
Officials at other media agencies too said that though the business climate is better than earlier months of this year, it’s not better than the same period of last year.
Echoes OMD India COO Harish Shriyan, “Festive season is always better. Most of the advertisers in any case are spending money and they will continue to do so but the level and kind of money they used to spend earlier is not the same this time. Though it is better than the previous few months I don’t think there is any kind of major reaction because of the policies and all. I doubt that advertising spend will increase in these (the remaining) months (of the year).”
Balakrishnan feels the advertising spends on television will continue to be moderate this year. “Slowdown is going on. It’s not that people are withdrawing but also they aren’t going over-board and gung-ho this season.”
According to GroupM’s revised forecast, the advertising expenditure on television is estimated to grow at 5.6 per cent to gross Rs 148.12 billion in calendar year 2012 against earlier estimate of a 12 per cent growth.
Havas Media CEO India and South Asia Anita Nayyar agreed that the growth in spends this season will be in the same range of five
to six per cent.
She noted that the festival season has now started to look up and it’s high time as Diwali is just a little more than a month away. “Earlier the season preparation would start almost two to two-and-a-half months in advance. It’s always nice for the advertising industry to grow and I hope that advertisers will now start seeing advertising budgets as investments rather than expenditures now that the sentiment is improving.”
SMG CEO Malli CR, however, feels that ad spends on television are ok. “It is not that the things are terribly down, there are quite few sectors where things are ok, and they may not be growing at an exponential rate. Sectors like telecom and consumer goods are advertising and FMCG is anyway continuing to advertise so it’s not that the economy has come to a standstill.”
“Some sectors like BFSI, automobile are probably not spending as much as they would have. FMCGs put together account for about more than 55 per cent TV advertising. Everybody is hoping that Diwali should lead to something better. People are spending on digital and other mediums, so it’s not a bleak scenario,” Malli added.
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.
