Brands
Akasa Air co-founder Praveen Iyer steps down, Anand Srinivasan to lead
Airline shakes up top team as Iyer exits and leadership reshuffles take flight
MUMBAI: Akasa Air has announced that co-founder and chief commercial officer Praveen Iyer is set to resign, marking another shake-up at the fast-growing carrier. Iyer, part of the founding team that launched flights in August 2022, will work closely with the leadership team to ensure a smooth transition until 30 April 2026.
Following his departure, co-founder and chief information officer Anand Srinivasan will take over as chief commercial officer, while the airline’s IT function will now report to chief financial officer Ankur Goel.
Iyer’s exit adds to a string of senior-level departures at Akasa over the past nine months. In October 2025, co-founder and senior vice president for International Operations Neelu Khatri stepped down. Other key exits in the latter half of 2025 included Rishabh Dev, head of long-term operations, strategy, excellence and planning; Anmol Mane, vice president – aircraft acquisition and leasing; and Vineet Mishra, deputy general manager for catering.
Despite the revolving door at the top, Akasa Air continues to push ahead, navigating turbulence with new appointments and leadership reshuffles aimed at keeping the airline on a steady flight path.
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.
