MAM
Offbeet Media appoints Rohit Tugnait as Chief Executive Officer of 101 India
Mumbai: Offbeet Media has made its play for young India, naming Rohit Tugnait as chief executive officer of 101 India, the youth-focused digital platform it recently acquired. The hire signals a sharp push to revive the once-buzzy brand and scale it into a serious contender in culture-led media.
Tugnait arrives with more than two decades in media, spanning digital and television, and a track record in building youth brands. He will steer creative direction, business strategy and long-term growth, with a brief to turn 101 India into a go-to hub for distinctive stories from across the country. Previously, he ran India operations at Vice Media Group, pitching the Vice proposition to both audiences and advertisers.
“Our focus for 2026 is aggressive growth, and 101 India will lead that vision for the group. With Rohit leading the way, along with other industry heavyweights, I am confident we will create a trajectory of magic for the brand,” said Jaideep Singh, founder, Offbeet Media Group.
Tugnait is betting on culture, community and new formats. “101 India is an extremely unique platform in what it represents and produces. It represents an aspect of India that young audiences have not seen or experienced through a cultural lens. From Dinner with Dons, which captures fun conversations with erstwhile thugs, to Oddly in India, where we tell human-interest stories with a twist. We have an extremely engaged community that we are going to build on with hosting new content, new formats of serving content and a play with AI at some point. 101 India in 2026 will be a platform defined by ambitious stories and ambitious benchmarks,” he said.
Offbeet is pitching 101 India as culture-first and youth-first, diving into India’s cultural and subcultural veins. The platform courts a new generation of storytellers and viewers with narratives that mirror modern India, spanning culture, subculture and counterculture. Distribution runs across YouTube, social platforms and its own site, mixing video, articles and original formats.
The appointment takes effect immediately. For Offbeet, the wager is clear: in the battle for young eyeballs, culture is currency, and 101 India is back in the game.
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.
