Brands
IHCL checks in with 100 new hotels, portfolio bulges to 380
MUMBAI: India’s hospitality heavyweight IHCL has flexed its muscles with a staggering 100 new properties in the last fiscal year, comprising 74 signings and 26 openings. The Tata Group behemoth, which operates the iconic Taj brand, now boasts a portfolio bulging at 380 hotels.
Executive vice president for real estate and development Suma Venkatesh highlighted the company’s “industry leading pipeline” of 137 hotels, crediting IHCL’s “strong brand presence” and “sustained demand buoyancy” for the achievement. The firm’s ambitious “Accelerate 2030” roadmap appears to be motoring along nicely, with upscale and midscale segments—Gateway and Ginger brands—garnering the lion’s share of signings.
“Ginger crossed a 100-hotel portfolio and Vivanta reached the 50+ hotel mark,” Venkatesh noted, clearly delighted with the milestone.
The company hasn’t confined its expansion to domestic shores. It has ventured into fresh middle eastern territory with properties in Bahrain and Ras Al Khaimah, adding over 800 keys to its international collection.
Executive vice president for hotel openings and new businesses Deepika Rao highlighted Ginger’s particularly prolific year, with nine new establishments springing up across commercial hubs, industrial townships, leisure destinations and state capitals.
Not content with conventional locations, IHCL has also played pioneer in virgin tourism territory. “Building on its legacy, IHCL pioneered new tourism destinations with SeleQtions and Gateway hotels in Diu and expanded its presence in spiritual destinations with a Taj resort in Puri,” Rao explained.
The hiring spree accompanying this expansion has been equally impressive, with over 2,500 new jobs created across the 26 new properties.
IHCL, which was founded when Jamsetji Tata opened The Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai in 1903, is now hurtling toward its “Accelerate 2030” goal of a 700-hotel portfolio. For a company recently crowned with the “World’s Strongest Hotel Brand 2024” title by Brand Finance, the sky—or perhaps the penthouse suite—appears to be the limit.
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.
