Brands
Mahindra names Rohit Thakur group CHRO as Ruzbeh Irani retires
MUMBAI: Mahindra Group has named Rohit Thakur as group chief human resources officer, effective 2 April 2026, following the retirement of long-serving HR chief Ruzbeh Irani.
Irani, who has spent more than 19 years with the group and sits on Mahindra’s group executive board, will retire at the close of business on 1 April 2026 on reaching the age of superannuation.
Thakur, currently CHRO for Mahindra’s auto and farm sector, will join the group’s senior management with his new role. He brings extensive experience across technology, consulting and industrial companies, having previously served as CHRO at Accenture India, Microsoft India and GE across multiple business units. He has also led HR at startups including Paytm and Lead School.
He holds a commerce degree from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi, and an MBA in human resources from XLRI Jamshedpur.
Mahindra said Irani had played a pivotal role in shaping the group’s people strategy over nearly two decades, overseeing talent development and organisational culture across its diverse businesses.
The transition follows the group’s succession plan and is aimed at ensuring continuity as Mahindra navigates its next phase of growth.
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.
