Brands
Manish Bandlish steps down as Mother Dairy chief
MUMBAI: Manish Bandlish has resigned as managing director of Mother Dairy, ending a three-and-a-half-year run steering one of India’s biggest milk brands. His tenure will conclude on 30 November as he pursues opportunities outside the National Dairy Development Board-owned company.
Bandlish joined Mother Dairy in March 2021, piloting the brand through volatile input costs and fierce market competition. The Delhi-based supplier, which posted a turnover of Rs 17,500 crore last fiscal, confirmed the exit and thanked Bandlish for his contribution to the company’s expansion.
Until a successor is named, the deputy managing director will shoulder leadership duties under the board’s oversight.
Mother Dairy moves more than 50 lakh litres of milk a day across India, with over 35 lakh litres flowing into Delhi-NCR alone. The portfolio spans dairy under the Mother Dairy label, edible oils as Dhara and fresh and frozen produce as Safal, alongside a more recent push into bakery.
Founded in 1974 under Operation Flood, the vast dairy overhaul that made India milk-secure, the company now operates nine owned processing plants, four horticulture facilities and 16 associated edible-oil units.
As the milk market heats up and rivals jostle for share, Mother Dairy’s next act demands decisive leadership and no sour notes.
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.
