Brands
Nofiltr.Group shifts focus to building creator careers, not deals
After nine years, the company focuses on building careers, not chasing brand deals
MUMBAI: In the creator economy, management often isn’t management at all. Most so-called creator management firms fall into two camps: consultants who broker brand deals and take a cut, and assistants who handle logistics and schedules. Neither builds a career, and neither safeguards a creator’s most valuable asset – their audience’s trust.
The problem is structural. Management companies earn by saying yes, but trust grows by saying no. Turn down the wrong campaign today, and your creator is worth more tomorrow. Say yes too often, and you chip away at what makes them irreplaceable.
Nofiltr.Group, led by CEO Hitarth Dadia, has long felt this tension. “We’ve turned down more money on behalf of our creators than most companies in this space have ever earned,” he said. “A management company doesn’t do that. An incubator does.”
Founded in 2017, Nofiltr was never just a manager. It was an incubator: spotting raw creative talent, often from small towns, and building careers from the ground up. Formats were developed, audiences constructed, and singularity protected. Saying no was part of the job.
Over time, the company’s label drifted towards management. Wider rosters, faster brand deals, quarterly targets – but the instinct to protect creativity never wavered. Nofiltr has built more than 15 creator careers from scratch, and prides itself not on the deals it closed, but the ones it killed.
Now, the company is clearing the clutter. It is doubling down on incubation and career building. Success will no longer be measured in campaigns per quarter, but in the long-term value of creators. Nofiltr is returning to its roots, where the structure finally matches the instinct.
Meanwhile, Dadia is preparing another venture to tackle a bigger challenge: giving creators ownership of the intellectual property they produce. A problem every other creative industry has solved, but the creator economy has yet to fix. The clock is ticking.
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.
