Brands
Marketing’s Christmas wish: purpose over performance, says Reliance CMO Gayatri Yadav
MUMBAI: Marketing has stuffed its own stocking with metrics—and misplaced its meaning. That, in essence, is the Christmas message from Gayatri Vasudeva Yadav, group chief marketing officer, Reliance, who has issued a sharp year-end wake-up call to an industry she says has forgotten why it exists.
In a candid “Dear Santa” note doing the rounds of the industry, Yadav argues that marketing has boxed itself into tidy but dangerous silos—brand, growth, performance, content—as if each lived on a different planet. They don’t. Or at least, they shouldn’t.
The real job of marketing, she says, is to juggle the now and the next: short-term sales and long-term brand, dashboards and dreams, boardrooms and creative studios. Marketing is not a support act. It is the growth engine—and the conscience—of the business.
In India, the stakes are higher. This is a market built on trust, scale and long memory, where brands are not merely bought but welcomed into homes, festivals and everyday lives. Yet too many marketers, Yadav warns, are optimising for the quarter while quietly eroding the equity that took decades to build.
The irony is glaring. India is at a once-in-a-generation moment to create businesses of global scale and impact. And yet, the number of Indian brands in the global top 100 remains stubbornly small. Coincidence? She doesn’t think so.
Her prescription for 2026 is disarmingly simple: put the customer back at the centre—not as a data point, but as a human being. Remember that growth without respect is brittle, and performance without purpose is fleeting.
Yadav also fires a gentle shot across the AI bow. Yes, artificial intelligence is a force multiplier. No, it is not a substitute for judgment. Data must dance with empathy; logic with imagination.
The closing note is less festive cheer, more alarm bell. If marketing does not reclaim its leadership role, it risks sliding into irrelevance. If it does, Indian marketing can still build global brands that endure—and businesses that scale with trust.
Season’s greetings, then. But consider this less a carol, more a call to arms.
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.
