MAM
BTR 2013: Finally a yardstick to measure trust in brands
BENGALURU: “The Brand Trust Report…. India Study 2013″(BTR 2013), the name says it all. The author – Trust Research Advisory (TRA) CEO N Chandramouli and the compilers – TRA have tried to give a form of tangibility to what has generally been considered intangible to measure – Trust. TRA has tried to use the ‘scientific method‘ to peg down the numbers to 1100 brands in India.
TRA says that Brand Trust is based on three foundations, all of which are dependent upon the actions of the trustee. They are – building the capacity to trust; perception of positive intent and demonstrating relevant competence. These three foundations of brand trust comprise of 10 brand behaviours, which are explained in the report.
According to TRA the current year‘s report is a result of more than 13,000 hours of fieldwork conducted across 16 Indian cities between July and November 2012, resulting in nearly 19,000 unique brands and three million data points. The 187 A4 sized pages report is divided into 4 parts.
Part I analyses the report and compares it to the position of the brands in the 2012 report. It has two chapters – India‘s most trusted brands and India‘s most trusted brands by category.
Part II speaks about the author‘s concept of “Understanding Trust and Brand Trust” over two chapters – Life‘s script: Trust and Understanding the Brand Matrix
Part III declares the quantum of work that has gone in preparing this year‘s report again over two chapters – BTR 2013 Study Methodology and Studying the Influencers Mindset.
The last and longest part of the book contains the BTR 2013 Listings – Most Trusted Brands. Part IV contains Zonewise Listings (Top 500 brands), Categorywise Listing of India‘s 1100 Most Trusted Brands and All India Listing of India‘s 1100 Most Trusted Brands.
The book is easy reading, with a well-composed layout and easy to understand charts. It has leaders from various verticals explaining their concept of trust. It also contains snippets of ‘Trust Gyan‘ (Gyan means knowledge) that tell stories about some of the prominent brands such as Maruti, Amul, Discovery India Channel, and Jaipan.
That the BTR is the probably the only report of its kind makes it a mandatory possession for all libraries of major brands, advertising agencies, media companies and the entire value chain involved in branding. A report of this nature can only be as accurate as the methodology, the statistical analysis and interpretation, which have been explained in part III, chapter 5.. As time progresses, future versions of the BTR are likely to be even more refined than the 61 point matrix that the TRA has adopted for BTR 2013. A rough unit of measure is definitely much better than no yardstick at all.
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.
