MAM
Metal of honour Vedanta’s Independence Day ode powers India’s rise
MUMBAI: When it comes to nation-building, Vedanta Aluminium is proving that not all heroes wear capes some shine in silver sheen. This Independence Day, India’s largest aluminium producer launched its campaign “Badhte Bharat Ki Pehchaan”, a tribute to the metal fuelling the country’s self-reliant march towards Viksit Bharat@2047. The campaign rolled out in cinematic style. It began with teasers that celebrated India’s progress without revealing the engine behind it. The suspense gave way to a digital film, unveiling aluminium as the invisible force powering India’s EVs, solar farms, defence systems, and smart infrastructure. The film closed on a resonant note: “Hum hai Vedanta Aluminium. Hum Badhte Bharat ki Pehchaan hain.”
For Vedanta Aluminium CEO Rajiv Kumar the message is clear: “This year’s Independence Day theme, ‘Naya Bharat’, reflects a reality in the making. Aluminium is the ‘metal of the future’, enabling everything from clean energy to defence alloys. Our campaign is a salute to that spirit of innovation and resilience.”
The tribute didn’t just play out on screen. Vedanta turned the spotlight on its employees, who shared selfies on social media with the campaign line, calling themselves the real faces powering India’s industrial leap. The company also kicked off a snippet series that zooms into its role in high-growth sectors like electric mobility, renewables, aerospace, defence and infrastructure industries critical to India’s ambition of becoming a $5 trillion economy and beyond.
From EV batteries and solar panels to combat-ready alloys and metro rail structures, aluminium’s versatility is pitched as India’s growth catalyst. By positioning itself at the centre of this industrial shift, Vedanta Aluminium isn’t just selling a metal, it’s scripting a metaphor: India’s strength, resilience, and future, all rolled into one shiny sheet.
So, while fireworks lit up the skies this Independence Day, Vedanta made sure aluminium lit up the nation’s imagination. After all, in the story of a rising Bharat, the real sparkle might just be metal deep.
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.
