Brands
Kotak Mahindra Bank appoints Anup Kumar Saha as WTD
MUMBAI: Kotak Mahindra Bank has added fresh heft to its leadership bench with the appointment of Anup Kumar Saha as whole-time director, signalling a sharper focus on consumers, data and digital momentum.
As per an exchange filing, Saha will join the bank as designate whole-time director from January 12, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals. He will also become part of the senior management team. At Kotak, he will oversee consumer banking, marketing and data analytics, three engines critical to winning customers in an increasingly competitive banking landscape.
Saha brings with him a track record built at the crossroads of scale and strategy. Most recently, he served as managing director at Bajaj Finserv, where he spent eight years helping shape one of India’s most profitable consumer finance businesses. During his tenure, the group’s customer base surged past the 100 million mark, backed by product expansion and operational rigour.
Before that, Saha clocked 14 years at ICICI Bank, holding senior roles across retail and structured finance. His experience spans consumer lending, analytics-led decision-making and digital transformation, skills that fit neatly with Kotak’s long-term ambitions.
The appointment underlines Kotak Mahindra Bank’s intent to double down on customer-centric growth, sharper marketing and smarter use of data. In a sector where numbers matter as much as trust, Saha’s arrival adds both.
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.
