Brands
Elitecon International appoints former IRS veteran Susanta Kumar Panda as independent director
NEW DELHI: Elitecon International is tightening its governance screws. The BSE-listed FMCG group has appointed Susanta Kumar Panda, a retired Indian Revenue Service officer, as an independent director on its board, signalling a sharper focus on compliance, oversight and boardroom rigour as the company expands at home and abroad.
The move brings nearly four decades of tax and regulatory firepower into the boardroom. Panda previously served as a member of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs and as special secretary to the Government of India. His career spans senior roles across the Enforcement Directorate and the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, giving him deep grounding in indirect taxation, enforcement and compliance frameworks.
Elitecon is betting that such experience will bolster board processes, audit oversight and regulatory compliance — areas under growing investor scrutiny for listed consumer companies with cross-border ambitions.
Vipin Sharma, managing director of Elitecon International, said, “We are pleased to welcome Susanta Kumar Panda to our board as an independent director. His deep understanding of fiscal governance, regulatory compliance and public administration will add significant value to Elitecon’s governance framework and support our long-term growth objectives.”
The appointment adds heft to the company’s push for stronger board independence and governance depth. For a firm operating in a tightly regulated FMCG and tobacco landscape, regulatory literacy is not a luxury but a shield.
Founded in 1987 as Kashiram Jain & Company, Elitecon International is listed on the BSE and runs a diversified FMCG and tobacco portfolio. With more than three decades in manufacturing and trading, it operates across domestic and international markets, backed by scalable production.
As Indian consumer companies grow bigger and more global, the boardroom is becoming as strategic as the marketplace. Elitecon’s latest hire suggests it wants fewer surprises, tighter controls and a steadier hand on the regulatory tiller — because in today’s markets, governance can be as valuable as 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.
