MAM
Sony India earmarks Rs 1.5 bn marketing spend in festive season
MUMBAI: Sony India has earmarked a marketing budget of Rs 1.5 billion for the festive season even as it targets a 50 per cent surge in sales.
Enhancing its product lineup, Sony India has recently launched the 84 inch Bravia 4K LCD TV, which is a 3D Viewer – Head Mounted Display HMZ-T2 is a touch-screen Vaio with Windows 8, the new flagship Full-Frame ?99 interchangeable lens camera and Cyber-shot DSC-RX100, the professional compact camera with a sensor.
Sony is looking at a sales revenue of Rs 28.50 billion during the September-November period.
Says Sony India MD Kenichiro Hibi, “We aspire to achieve 50 per cent sales growth over last year‘s festive sales. We have also allocated a budget of Rs 1.50 billion towards marketing activities for this festive season. “
Sony is doing a contest around the upcoming James Bond movie ‘Skyfall‘. The contest is called ‘This Diwali Bond with Sony‘. Skyfall releases in India on 1 November.
On purchase of selective products from dealers appointed by Sony, customers can participate in the draw and can win prizes like 100 55″ (140 cms) BRAVIA TVs, 200 Head Mount Display, 500 XPERIA™ Tablet and 1000 XPERIA™ Smartphones, Tipo. This offer is valid on Bravia Televisions, Alpha cameras, Cyber-shot cameras, Handycam video cameras, Procam video cameras, DAV & Blu-ray Home Theater Systems, Mini Hi-fi and Micro Hi-fi systems, Blu-ray players, Sony Playstations, Vaio Notebooks, Xperia Tablet and Xperia Smartphone, Tipo.
The new Bravia products have been powered with Indian picture settings that are now exclusively designed to cater to versatile demands and preferences of Indian customers for brighter displays and sharper contrast. Last year, Sony engineers met hundreds of Indian customers to precisely understand their preference in terms of picture quality. As a result, Sony developed Indian Picture Settings, which means the brightness and vividness in the Bravia TVs is in tune with the taste of the audience in India.
There is a bundle offer on the BRAVIA range. On purchase of any 3D Bravia model, customers can purchase a Sony Blu-ray (BDP-S490) player at a price of Rs 9,900, thereby saving Rs 10,000 on its MRP, and get a pair of 3D glass, HDMI cable and two 3D Movie titles free.
In addition to this with the purchase of Bravia HX925, HX850, HX750 series customers will get an assured 8 GB pen drive preloaded with contents of ‘Men in Black 3‘ and with the purchase of NX650, EX650/550, EX430/330, CX350 & BX450/350 series customers will get an assured 4 GB pen drive preloaded with content of ‘Skyfall‘‘s trailer and a video blog.
Marketing campaign: Sony India has a dedicated multi-media marketing campaign for its flagship product category. The campaign has been created keeping in mind the flavour and zest of the Indian festive season. This campaign kicked off mid October and runs till the end of next month.
Cyber-Shot: Sony claims to offer the widest variety of compact cameras in the High Zoom range. Sony says that it realised that there has been significant demand for High Zoom in the compact camera segment and now boasts of a very wide product range to cater to this demand. The newly launched DSC-H100, has been designed as per the taste of Indian customers.
Post customer feedback, Sony came up with this product which offers very powerful zoom of 21X in a premium design, with a price point of Rs. 12,990. Sony also launched Cyber-shot DSC-WX150, which combines high zoom in a compact design, thereby offering a much more value-added product to the customers. Sony expects high sales for this particular model during the festive season.
Consumer offer: In the digital imaging segment, customers will get free 4 GB Sony Memory card and Original Carrying case on purchase of any Cyber-shot or Alpha camera. On purchase of Handycam, customers will get a free carrying case.
Marketing campaign: Cyber-shot will also be highly visible during the festive period. The concept of this campaign is Pocket Zoom. Customers can enjoy very high zoom in pocket-size Cyber-shot cameras.
Vaio: Sony India‘s Vaio line-up is VAIO E14A, with a wrap design and accent colours, VAIO T, the Ultrabook and new models of E, S & Z series. The aim is to offer a better user experience with useful features like Backlit keyboard which is helpful to type in dark, USB charging to charge USB devices even when the notebook is turned off and multi-gesture touchpad which allows users to zoom and scroll with gesture on touchpad. With the latest Intel 3rd generation Core CPU, our laptops offer faster computing speed and highly improved graphics.
Consumer offer: Sony will provide free original Vaio Backpack on its recently launched ‘Spark a Trend‘ campaign VAIO series. This festive offer extends across all models of Sony VAIO.
Finance offer: Keeping in mind the overall economic slowdown and the fact that this is a time when consumers are slightly hesitant, the company is offering a Zero Percent Finance Offer and Zero Processing Fee. Sony is offering attractive EMI offers on select credit cards as well.
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.
