MAM
ixigo introduces six independent directors to the board panel
Mumbai: Online travel app ixigo on Monday announced the appointment of six independent members to its board of directors.
The new independent members of the board are NASSCOM Foundation ex-chairman & trustee Arun Seth; IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited) ex-chairman & managing director Mahendra Pratap Mall; ICICI Ltd & ICICI Prudential Life ex-vice president Shubha Rao Mayya; Hopper Inc founder & CEO Frederic Lalonde; Hamstede Living MD & CEO and ex Lemon Tree Hotels, Ginger Hotels, Rahul Pandit and Innerchef co-founder Rajesh Sawhney.
Taking to social media, ixigo’s Group CEO & co-founder, Aloke Bajpai tweeted: “We are thrilled to welcome 6 new independent board members bringing rich, diverse and relevant experience to our Board. Together, we will take our iconic travel-tech offerings to the next level!”
Launched in 2007 by Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar, Ixigo is an AI-based travel app based in Gurugram and has a user base of more than 250 million. The travel firm has divided its apps based on user interest – the ixigo train app and the ixigo flight app.
Earlier this year, the company acquired Bengaluru-based online train discovery and booking platform Confirmtkt for an undisclosed amount. ixigo is the fourth Indian online travel company to go public after MakeMyTrip, Yatra, and EaseMyTrip.
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.
