Brands
Singhania as chairman & Kataria as MD get nod from Raymond Lifestyle shareholders
MUMBAI: In the evening hours of 4 December Raymond Lifestyle – part of the Raymond group– informed the Bombay stock exchange that it had received the required majority from shareholders for the company’s special resolutions placed before them at its AGM.
Amongst the most important was the appointment of Gautam Hari Singhania as executive chairman. In the SEBI regulatory filing by the company, it was revealed that 86.85 percent of the 4,17,57,480 votes cast were in favor of the resolution for Singhania’s appointment, while 13.15 percent were against it. Special resolutions, according to corporate rules, require 75 per cent or more favourable shareholder votes for them to be deemed to have been approved.
The shareholders also approved the appointment of CEO Sunil Kataria as its managing director (MD). In Kataria’s case, 89.6631 per cent shareholders were in favor of his new appointment, while 10.3369 were against.
Another six special resolutions relating to the appointment of independent directors also sailed through, garnering the required majority from shareholders.
Media reports had expressed concern when some investor groups had lobbied Raymond Lifestyle shareholders to vote against the special resolutions.
Raymond Lifestyle had been listed on the stock exchanges on 5 September after demerging and being carved out from Raymond, with Singhania continuing to lead both the entities.
Later commenting on the development, a Raymond Lifestyle spokesperson said its shareholders have demonstrated full confidence and voted for Gautam Hari Singhania as chairman and Sunil Kataria as the managing director.
“This development has reinforced the fact that the promoter is fully committed towards the organisation’s growth and creating shareholder value,” he said.
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
