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Havas India companies are a Great Place To Work Certified, second year in a row
Mumbai: All companies under Havas India (creative, media and health), part of Paris-headquartered Havas, are now Great Place To Work Certified in India from December 2023 to December 2024. The certificate is also applicable to Havas India’s newly acquired digital agency, PivotRoots. This is a testament to Havas India’s enhancing culture as the network has received this certification for the second consecutive year.
Great Place To Work is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, they have surveyed more than 100 million employees worldwide and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. In India, the Great Place To Work Institute partners with more than 1400 organisations annually across over 22 industries to help them build High-Trust, High-Performance Cultures designed to deliver sustained business results. The Institute’s research shows that great workplaces are characterized by great leadership, consistent employee experience, and sustainable financial performance. These organizations can deliver a consistent experience to all their employees irrespective of their role, gender, tenure, or level. Their leaders believe in the vision of creating and sustaining a great place to work for all and role models for all leaders.
As the country’s fastest-growing advertising conglomerate, Havas India has undergone an unparalleled transformation over the last five years. The network grew from 3 to 18 companies and 200 to 2000 employees through global launches, joint ventures, acquisitions and strategic tie-ups. But despite this massive growth in scale and size, the network is deeply invested in its biggest asset – its people.
As per the Great Place to Work Trust Index Model, Havas India scored high on the following parameters: Credibility of management, Respect for people, Fairness at the workplace, Pride, Camaraderie between people, Equity, Competence and integrity.
Havas India CHRO Vandana Tilwani said, “Being Great Place To Work Certified™ is a very significant step for us in understanding how our employees perceive the culture we have built over the years at Havas India. I am immensely proud that our efforts at building a workplace where each person at Havas India feels valued has borne fruit. This Certification for the second time in a row comes as an added source of encouragement not just for our past efforts but also for our future endeavours. I look forward to a year where we can strengthen the foundations we have laid and be consistently recognized as a workplace that is equitable and growth-oriented for all involved.”
In an industry as dynamic as advertising, where people movement is rampant, Havas India has over the years taken concrete steps to ensure talent retention and development across the various stages of one’s professional journey, resulting in a refreshing cultural transformation. The holistic and customised initiatives of Havas India including Havas BOLT, Havas SPARK, EmpowHers, Women Who Inspire committee, Flex Your Lexi, and Bounce Back program, ensure the development, progression and well-being of all its people. These sustained efforts have resulted in improving the gender ratio from 19 per cent to 41 per cent (as of November 2023), with strong visibility of female leaders in the C-suite.
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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.
