MAM
Snapdeal opens 130 new distribution hubs across India
Mumbai: E-commerce marketplace Snapdeal announced that it has opened 130 new distribution hubs across all of India since January, covering 26 states and two union territories. The expanded network is designed to cater to the surge in demand ahead of the festive season starting in India from early October.
The e-tailer further shared that the maximum number of these hubs are located in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh. In addition, Snapdeal has augmented its logistics network in Jammu & Kashmir and in the North-East.
The network expansion serves the growing demand for online shopping from smaller cities, said the e-tailer, such as Baramulla (J&K), Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Khammam (Telangana), Alwar (Rajasthan), Sambalpur (Odisha), Tumkur (Karnataka), Latur (Maharashtra), Dimapur (Nagaland) and is designed to speed up deliveries for customers in these cities and in surrounding areas.
“The new hubs are located in areas where there is either growing buyer demand or higher seller concentration. The new facilities are designed towards rapid pick-ups from sellers and faster deliveries to buyers”, a Snapdeal spokesperson said. “The network expansion will also reduce the distance that some of our shipments travel by helping fulfill some of the demand from within the region,” the spokesperson added.
With the addition of these new hubs, Snapdeal now serves over 26,000 pin codes, reaching over 90 per cent of Indians across India, including metros, tier 1 & 2 cities, and most of tier 3 and 4 towns of India, stated the e-tailer.
The growing importance of online consumers from India’s smaller cities in driving India’s e-commerce growth was highlighted in a recent report by global consulting firm Kearney. The report shared that aspiring & mass households earning less than Rs 10 lakh per annum account for nearly 70 per cent of India’s non-food, value-driven retail demand. However, this segment today accounts for only 16 per cent of value e-commerce demand. This is expected to grow to 38 percent by 2026 and to nearly 50 per cent of value e-commerce demand by 2030.
Growing internet adoption and whittling away of resistance towards online shopping during the pandemic is driving online adoption in this segment. The Gen-Z users in India’s smaller cities are digitally savvy and they are joining the millennials as independent shoppers, which is expected to accelerate the growth of value e-commerce in India.
The rise of value-conscious shoppers, especially beyond the bigger cities in India is expected to be one of the key drivers of value e-commerce growth in India, the Kearney report added.
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.
