MAM
Music streaming app Gaana reaches 150 million monthly active users
MUMBAI: India’s largest music streaming app, Gaana crossed 150 million monthly active users in December 2019, making it the country’s first music streaming app to have crossed the mighty mark. This staggering leap to 150 million, buoyed by 40 per cent growth in regional music consumption and 35 percent growth in Bollywood music consumption in the past year has consolidated the brand’s strong hold as a market leader in the country’s audio OTT market.
Over the past year, Gaana has launched several industry-first features like being the first music app to introduce in-app voice assistant, introducing sing-along lyrics on the player page, Gaana video, Instant app experience or smart downloads, where the app automatically downloads a premium user’s favorite tracks based on their listening history to deliver substantial value to the digital music experience of users across India. Additionally, Gaana’s AI and machine learning-led recommendations manifested by AutoQueue and ‘For You’ sections now power more than 23 percent of consumption. These innovations combined with Gaana’s vast 45 million songs-strong music library across Bollywood, International and 30 Indic languages and it's newly launched 3000 strong podcast library including its promising ‘Gaana Podcast Originals’ featuring youth icons hold great promise for sustained organic growth in 2020.
Gaana CEO Prashan Agarwal said, "At Gaana, we believe in being the music companion to our users by adding melody and meaning to their everyday lives. Touching the 150 million users milestone is a testimony to the efforts of our incredible team and our vision to bring the most intuitive and immersive musical experience to our users. This achievement will offer us a stronger motivation to leverage our proprietary AI-driven algorithms and newly launched features in newer ways at greater scale to enable the next generation of music-lovers to discover our unending collection of songs and offer them a more immersive and fulfilling experience.”
The Indian music streaming industry is at the cusp of an incredible growth curve as more of us start consuming music online. The sector has seen a meteoric 3X growth in the past two years, and the market is expected to 400 Million monthly active users in the next two years. As the country’s go-to music app streaming over three and a half billion songs every month, more than some of its competitors combined, Gaana’s new feat has cemented its reputation as a pioneer in bringing product and UI innovation into the country’s music streaming sector with a strong focus on the Indian music lover.
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.
