Brands
33K Participants from 18 countries advance to the Unstop World Cup Final
Mumbai: Unstop, the community engagement and hiring platform for students and graduates, has announced the finalists of its ‘World’s Biggest Cricket Quiz Festival’.
1 The quiz saw a total of 33,000 participants hailing from 18 countries, primarily India, the United States, and Bangladesh, vying for the prize pool of Rs 4,00,000.
2 Unstop conducted 45 daily quizzes throughout the tournament, with six questions for every player to ace.
3 The grand finale of the Unstop World Cup Cricket Quiz Festival will be conducted on 18 November, a day prior to the finale of the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.
4 The top six are Tushar Kanda from NIT Karnataka, Surathkal; Madhav Kedia; Pradhyumna R from PES University, Bengaluru; Preetham Upadhyay from Barclays; Abhishikth Boda from IIT, Sri City; and Saswata Panigrahi, an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad.
The winner of the Grand Finale shall be crowned the World Cricket Quiz Champion and will take home a prize money of Rs 1,00,000, while the runner-ups receive Rs 50,000 and Rs 30,000 each. There are cash prizes for all other finalists along with Amazon Vouchers, a subscription to OTT Play for the top 100 players. All participants receive a subscription to Unstop Pro.
The finale will see Arun Lal, ex Indian cricketer and commentator, and Sresth Shah, editor, and journalist at ESPNcricinfo, as celebrity guest quiz masters posing questions to the finalists.
Unstop founder and CEO Ankit Aggarwal said, “Cricket is one game that brings together millions and we’ve been cheering for #Unstoppable Team India since day 1. This quiz was indeed a wonderful experience of giving our community of young talent a digital playground to showcase their best shots!”
Unstop VP marketing & growth Alekhya Chakrabarty added, “We felt it is natural to combine quizzing with the cricket world cup to come up with this competition for our community. The quiz saw stellar participation and I’m glad all participants could connect with their inner fan through it. Super excited for both the finals on 18 & 19 November.”
Reflecting on the experience, one of the finalists, Preetham Upadhyay said, “I used to look forward to the Unstop Cricket quiz at 6 PM, as much as the actual matches at 2 PM, and this had become a daily ritual over the last month all through the world cup. It was overall a fun and challenging experience as questions and scoring evolved through the festival.”
Tune in to watch the finale on 18 November at 4:30 PM on www.unstop.com and their Youtube channel Unstop_World. An exciting day when they’ll be playing the final innings with the top 6 and announcing the winners to present them with their much-deserved rewards!
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.
