MAM
Infloouhnser floats influencer marketing agency The Sway
KOLKATA: Infloouhnser Pvt Ltd has launched a trust-building and transparent multi-layered influencer advertising and marketing agency, The Sway.
The Sway combines data and technology with creative strategy and organic distribution to give brands a compelling offering while prioritizing integrity, accountability, and transparency. The core focus of the agency will be influencer marketing, meme marketing, and technology experiences.
The company, floated by Shailendra Shetty, Rajneil R Kamath, and Karan Sahni, has tied up with the Israel-based LDRS group, one of the global pioneers in the influencer marketing business, to use their AI and ML tech platform, enabling advertisers to discover influencers and define the audience to make it more meaningful for a brand to collaborate. The software also allows the client to identify and weed out fake followers and bots, help real-time engagement metrics tracking, ensure standardised metrics and pricing, selection, and matching of the influencer to deliver value over volumes.
The company has also got into an exclusive partnership with Meme Chat, pioneers of meme culture in India, reaching over 300 million social media users, thereby helping brands to unlock the value of memes with organic distribution on social media. This includes augmented reality (AR) effects and filters, brand bots, microsites, and games. Having built an in-house data science team to slice and dice data, The Sway has the advantage of creating the most optimal mix of creators and social media destinations for brands.
The company has roped in Jyoti Bansal (ex-CEO PHD India) and Namrata Tata (managing partner, House of Cheer) to help mentor and advise the company in its journey.
The Sway founder Shailendra Shetty said: "The recent case of fake followers' scam that got busted makes services of our kind much needed. The authenticity of influencers and audience is crucial to any brand. We help our brand partners sift through influencers' universe and connect them with content creators who share the same value and beliefs as the brand. Combined with meme marketing, we are able to give advertisers a great way to reach out to Gen Z and millennial users. "
LDRS group CEO Eran Nizri said: "We are excited to partner with Rajniel, Shailendra, Karan and the team at SWAY. Their decades of experience in media, technology, and marketing to blend content marketing with technology to create experiences that augment influencer and meme marketing makes them the perfect partner for us as we make an entry into the Indian marketplace.”
Influencer marketing is proving to be the fastest-growing method for brands to acquire high-quality customers. By industry estimates, brands are set to spend up to 10-15 per cent of the overall Rs 14,000 crore of digital advertising revenue on influencer marketing. Many sectors, including ed-tech, FMCGs, and fintech, have seen a 20 to 30 per cent rise in influencer marketing spends during the last six months and are expected to grow even more.
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.
