MAM
‘Born in Sweden, built in India’, says Truecaller in latest #HelloIndia campaign
Mumbai: In a bid to reaffirm its commitment towards India and to create more awareness around the brand, the Swedish app, Truecaller has launched the #HelloIndia campaign. The outdoor campaign, conceptualised and executed by Gurgaon-based Thinkstr, aims to spread awareness of the origins of Truecaller and strengthen the brand’s connection with its Swedish roots.
The primary objective of this campaign is to elicit an emotion towards the brand and encourage users to adopt the use of this efficient technology for their benefit, the company said in a statement.
Truecaller’s sizable portion of the engineering and development team is based out of India and it takes pride in building solutions and products for India and then taking them global. The campaign is an attempt to connect the rich heritage and culture of Sweden with the diversity and enormity of India, which Truecaller calls its home country now, it added.
“We are proud to be a Swe-desi app – Born in Sweden, built-in India and we wanted to tell the world about it,” Truecaller’s director of marketing, Manan Shah said. “That’s when while working with Thinkstr, they came up with this campaign. It instantly resonated with all of us and we deployed it. This is part of our ongoing effort to create more awareness around the brand.”
Thinkstr’s head of creative and the writer of the campaign Ravi Raghavendra said, “While Truecaller is the third most downloaded app in India, not many know that it was founded in Sweden. We wanted to tell people that we are from the land of innovation and excellence. Sweden has given the world a lot of innovations that have transformed human lives. Similarly, Truecaller continues to transform the lives of people by protecting them against harassers and pesky, irritating callers. It is our way of saying: from Sweden to India, with love.”
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.
