Brands
Nitin Bhandari appointed VP & general manager, India & south Asia beverages at PepsiCo
MUMBAI: Nitin Bhandari has taken on the role of vice-president & general manager, India & south Asia beverages at PepsiCo. Based in Gurugram, Haryana, Bhandari will oversee the company’s beverages business in the region, focusing on unlocking growth opportunities and delivering value to consumers, communities, and stakeholders.
He replaces George Kovoor senior vice-president & GM India beverage who has chosen to retire come 31 March 2025.
In his 19-year tenure at PepsiCo, Bhandari has held diverse leadership roles across India, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. Most recently, he served as VP & chief growth officer for PepsiCo India, spearheading transformative strategies for its foods and beverages business in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Prior to this, he was general manager for the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore, managing both beverages and foods.
Bhandari’s career highlights include launching e-commerce initiatives in Asia, turning around PepsiCo’s Thailand foods business, and leading the marketing strategy for iconic brands like Mountain Dew in India. His achievements have earned him accolades such as the PepsiCo Chairman’s Award in 2015.
All that experience will be put to the test in the coming summer as Reliance Industries which has resuscitated the Campa-Cola brand and has proved a price warrior renews its assault on the Indian soft drink market, possibly with a few new variants as well as deepening its distribution. At the same time, the Jubilant Bhartia group is pumping in Rs 12,500 crore in Coca-Cola Co’s main Indian bottler Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages and acquiring a 40 per cent stake.
An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indore, Bhandari expressed gratitude to PepsiCo leaders Eugene Willemsen and Jagrut Kotecha for this opportunity and acknowledged George Kovoor’s contributions in building a strong foundation for the business over the past three years.
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.
