Brands
Sneha Jha promoted to associate director at KFC India
Marketing leader to steer media strategy and customer lifecycle growth
MUMBAI: Sneha Jha has been promoted to associate director – media and customer lifecycle management at KFC India, marking the latest milestone in her nearly decade-long journey with the quick-service restaurant brand.
In her expanded role, Jha will oversee the company’s media strategy while leading initiatives across the customer lifecycle, with a focus on strengthening acquisition, engagement and retention across multiple channels.
Her promotion follows her tenure as head of media and customer lifecycle management, a role she held from August 2024 to January 2026. During this time, she led media planning and buying, while shaping customer lifecycle strategies that supported the brand’s digital and marketing ambitions.
Jha’s rise within KFC India has been steady and wide-ranging. Since joining the company in 2016 as deputy brand manager for consumer insights, she has moved through a series of leadership roles spanning innovation, delivery strategy, e-commerce and lifecycle marketing.
Over the years, she has served as brand manager for innovation and insights, senior brand manager handling delivery and aggregator partnerships, and later as senior brand manager for customer lifecycle management and e-commerce. She went on to lead customer lifecycle management and owned e-commerce before taking charge of media and lifecycle functions at the head level.
Before entering the quick-service restaurant industry, Jha spent over three years at IMRB International as a senior research manager. There, she led quantitative research programmes for major brands including PepsiCo, Frito, GSK, Philips and Maruti.
With experience spanning consumer insights, digital marketing, media strategy and martech, Jha’s elevation signals KFC India’s continued focus on strengthening its marketing engine while deepening customer relationships in an increasingly digital-first landscape.
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.
