MAM
Kshema General Insurance launches campaign to raise awareness about crop insurance
Mumbai: Kshema General Insurance Ltd has announced the launch of its national marketing campaign aimed at raising awareness about crop insurance to coincide with the beginning of the Kharif season. The centrepiece of the 360-degree campaign is a TVC which will reach farmers as they start sowing with the onset of the monsoons. The TV campaign will be further augmented by a concurrent campaign in print, digital, and outdoor media. The campaign highlights the importance of crop insurance in creating a financial safety net for farmers when extreme climate events are becoming more frequent and intense.
The 30-second TVC was developed in-house to forge a deeper connection with farmers, and easy accessibility of Kshema’s industry-first crop insurance plan Sukriti along with Prakriti. The product is available on Kshema’s proprietary platform which can be downloaded from Google Playstore. Any farmer or family member with insurable income can buy this customisable crop insurance starting from Rs 499 per acre and protect more than 100 crops from a combination of one major and one minor peril. All they need to do is download the app, register, geo-tag their farm and pay the premium.
Commenting on the launch of the TVC, Kshema General Insurance Ltd CMO Bhaskar Thakur said, “I am pleased that we relied on the incredibly powerful imagery of a father-daughter relationship to create awareness about mitigating crop loss and resulting income shock with the help of crop insurance. We chose the emotional depth of the conversation between a father and daughter to convey the importance of protecting farmers from income shocks and building financial resilience. Children can ask the most poignant questions with the utmost simplicity which forces an adult to think. We chose to capture that moment of innocence to carry our message of buying crop insurance to mitigate financial losses caused by perils.”
The film opens with a farmer working in his field who then takes a break to have lunch with his daughter. She innocently asks her father why he needs to work hard. He lovingly explains he works hard so that everyone has food on their table, and they don’t face any trouble. The daughter exclaims proudly he is there to ensure no one is in trouble but asks with concern who will look after him if he faces any adverse situation. The camera pans to the farmer who now looks worried and then cuts to the visual of Kshema app with the narrator explaining that any farmer can buy Sukriti easily via the app.
Kshema’s media partner Mudramax is spearheading the campaign and the TVC will be aired on news, music, movies, and general entertainment channels in the country. “We are thrilled to partner with Kshema General Insurance Limited on this groundbreaking integrated multi-media marketing campaign,” said Mudramax president – integrated media Rammohan Sundaram. “By leveraging a strategic mix of TV, Print, and Digital broadcast properties, including a carefully curated set of influencers, we aim to create a cohesive and immersive brand experience that resonates with the target audiences across all touchpoints. This campaign exemplifies the innovative and collaborative spirit of both our teams, and we are confident it will drive significant engagement and impact”.
The new commercial will also be bolstered by an intensive digital campaign to drive awareness around the critical role played by crop insurance in mitigating risks caused by natural perils.
The agricultural and allied sectors engage the largest share of the workforce, constituting 45.5 per cent as per the Periodic Labour Force Survey of 2021-22, and contribute nearly 15 per cent to India’s GDP. However, natural catastrophic events are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change affecting the farming community disproportionately. These natural perils cause not only loss of crop but also livelihoods in the worst cases as 85 per cent of farmers have modest annual incomes.
Kshema endeavours to support the farming community through these trying times by providing them tailor-made insurance products after adequately mapping and analysing the risk involved.
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.
