MAM
Interbrand India ropes in Ashoo Advani as brand strategy – associate director
MUMBAI: Interbrand India has brought on-board Ashoo Advani as associate director – brand strategy. Based out of Mumbai, Advani will work closely with Interbrand India MD Ashish Mishra on the agency’s client roster.
Advani said, “Since my B-school days, brand valuation has been an area of interest. It is the ultimate metric for any brand and there is no organization in the world that comes close to Interbrand in brand valuation expertise. I am excited about learning and using the global best practices of managing brands.”
Mishra believed that the war for talent is accelerating and globally Interbrand’s people’s skills are considered as a benchmark. According to Mishra, the agency clearly wants the select few who can do justice to the company’s reputation and the ones who can be trusted with transformational value creation through brands and are valued for it too.
“For far too long the brands and branding world in India has remained reconciled to the easy and interesting second half of expression. We want people capable of pulling back the conversation into the non-existent first half of strategic definition, both respectfully and profitably and I am happy and confident that with Ashoo on board with us, we can help make this happen,” stated Mishra.
Advani brings to the agency an experience of over a decade in brand communications and strategy development. His expertise pans largely around developing brand communication for new and existing brands. He joins Interbrand from Chlorophyll where he was senior brand planner. Prior to Chlorophyll, Advani was associated with Ogilvy & Mather where he exclusively worked with Asian Paints and managed development of communication for 22 different product brands. He has also worked with Lowe earlier in his career.
An MBA from Asian Institute of Management, Manila, Philippines; he believes in saving the world from the overuse of the word brand. For doing his share, he is associated with Xavier Institute of Communications as a guest faculty member for Corporate and Product Branding, where he interacts with students and clarifies their ideas about branding.
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.
