Brands
Accor names Amitabh Rai as luxury chief operating officer for South Asia
MUMBAI: Accor has appointed Amitabh Rai as chief operating officer for its luxury and lifestyle portfolio in South Asia, effective January 15, 2026, as the global hospitality group sharpens its focus on premium brand growth across the region.
Rai will oversee the operational and strategic direction of Accor’s luxury brands, including Raffles, Fairmont and Sofitel, with a mandate to drive performance, strengthen brand differentiation and deliver distinctive guest experiences.
A hospitality veteran with nearly three decades of experience across India and Indonesia, Rai began his career with Oberoi Hotels & Resorts after graduating from the Oberoi School of Hotel Management. He later joined Marriott International, serving as general manager of The Ritz-Carlton, Bengaluru, before leading Marriott’s Hyderabad market and most recently managing The Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott properties in Jakarta.
Accor South Asia CEO Ranju Alex, said Rai’s operational expertise and people-first leadership would be key to shaping the next phase of growth for the group’s luxury brands in the region.
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.
