MAM
Akhil Gupta named chief financial officer at NDTV
NEW DELHI: NDTV has appointed Akhil Gupta as chief financial officer, tapping a seasoned finance leader with a track record across media, infrastructure, healthcare and telecommunications, as the network tightens its grip on strategy, governance and capital discipline.
Gupta steps into the role after a stint at Adani Enterprises Limited, where he served as BU finance controller, handling the hard yards of bookkeeping, audits, board processes and working capital, alongside internal financial controls, tax compliance, contract management, TEV studies, credit ratings and term loan facilitation.
Before that, he was head of investor relations, FP&A and internal audit at Zydus Group Cadila Healthcare Limited, where he led investor engagement, disclosures, budgeting, MIS, internal audit and enterprise risk management, bringing structure and rigour to complex, regulated businesses.
His earlier career spans senior finance and FP&A leadership roles at Bharti Infratel Limited and Bharti Airtel Foundation Limited, along with finance responsibilities at PVR Limited, giving him deep exposure to large-scale operations, capital planning and stakeholder management across sectors.
At NDTV, Gupta will oversee financial strategy, governance, compliance and reporting, a brief that puts him at the centre of the broadcaster’s next phase.
For a newsroom where numbers now matter as much as narratives, Gupta’s arrival signals one thing clearly: the balance sheet is back in sharp focus, and there will be no room for sloppy arithmetic.
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.
