Brands
Pluxee rocks the cradle with Proeves buy to boost workplace benefits
MUMBAI: Sometimes growth is about scale. Sometimes it is about care. Pluxee has chosen the latter, completing its acquisition of Proeves on 20 December 2025 and adding corporate childcare to its expanding employee benefits portfolio in India.
The deal, first announced in September 2025, received all necessary regulatory approvals and marks Pluxee’s entry into the fast-growing corporate childcare benefits segment. With over 3.5 million consumers in India, the group is now widening its focus from traditional employee engagement solutions to benefits that directly address work–life balance and gender equality.
Founded as a digital-first childcare benefits platform, Proeves enables working parents to identify suitable caregivers through a comprehensive technology-led marketplace. The company currently works with more than 100 corporates and partners with over 7,000 childcare centres across the country, positioning it as a key player in an increasingly regulated and employer-driven space.
For Pluxee, the acquisition also has a compliance edge. As India’s labour codes evolve, including statutory childcare and crèche requirements, employers are under pressure to offer structured solutions. By integrating Proeves, Pluxee aims to help organisations meet these obligations while offering benefits that resonate with a modern, diverse workforce.
The move signals a broader shift in how employee benefits are being redefined in India away from perks alone and towards support systems that acknowledge life beyond the workplace. In Pluxee’s case, strengthening its benefits stack now begins not at the office door, but closer to home.
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.
