MAM
Economic confidence of Indians shaky: Ipsos
MUMBAI: India’s economic confidence remained shaky due to gloomy investor sentiments, chronic gaps in infrastructure, high inflation and interest rate, according to a report by global research firm Ipsos.
According to the Ipsos Economic Pulse of the World Survey, India‘s economic confidence dropped further by two points to 70 per cent in the month of May compared to the previous month.
However India continued to hold the second most economically confident country position after Saudi Arabia which stayed at the top of the table with a wide margin at 88 per cent.
Ipsos India CEO Mick Gordon said, “The symptoms of Indian economy being in poor health are building fast with growth rate slipping to a nine-year low of 6.5% in 2011-12, current account deficit touching a high of 4% and inflation at a high of 7.55% in May. Rupee has plunged sharply in recent weeks especially on account of foreign fund outflows and gloomy investor sentiments. It has lost over 20% against the US dollar over the past few months.”
“The chronic gaps in infrastructure, a shortage of skilled labour, unproductive farming, government expenditure on inefficient subsidies, barriers to overseas companies looking to invest and a proposal for punitive retrospective taxation on foreign companies has added to the already slowing growth,” added Gordon.
Half of the Indian population believe their local economy is good and 54 per cent people expect that the economy in their local area will be stronger in the next six months.
“Now hopes of revival are pinned at Dr. Manmohan Singh who takes over the finance portfolio. He is expected to bring in changes to revive the stalled economic growth, arrest the rupee‘s fall and deal with the fallout of a possible breakup of the euro zone, a tough task,” added Gordon.
The Ipsos report, which examined citizens‘ assessment of the current state of their country‘s economy, said that the overall global economic engines has lost significant steam in May and has dropped another point to 37 per cent, the lowest it has been since the economic downturn of 2009.
The Ipsos Economic Pulse of the World survey was conducted in May 2012 among 18,713 people in 24 countries such as Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States of America.
Saudi Arabia again shows the strongest proportions of people rating their current national economic situation as ‘good’ (88 per cent). They are followed by: India (70 per cent), Germany (69 per cent), Sweden (64 per cent), China (63 per cent) and Canada (62 per cent).
Only a handful of those in Spain (three per cent), Italy (three per cent) and Hungary (three per cent) rate their national economies as ‘good’, followed by Japan (nine per cent), France (nine per cent) and Great Britain (10 per cent).
Countries with the greatest improvements in this wave are Belgium (+7 to 28%), Argentina (+7 to 45%), Indonesia (+4 to 40%) and Russia (+3 to 36%).
The nations that saw the sharpest declines are Brazil (-10 to 49 per cent), Sweden (-7 to 64 per cent), Mexico (-5 to 28 per cent) and the US (-4 to 23 per cent).
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.
