Brands
Birla Open Minds expands its reach, schooling east India with three new campuses
MUMBAI: A chalkboard revolution is underway in the east. Birla Open Minds has rolled out three spanking new campuses across Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Bihar, bringing its vision of education with a conscience to the doorsteps of thousands more students.
The latest openings-located in Koderma, Singur, and Punpun-add heft to the brand’s footprint and bolster its mission of making learning a liberating experience, not just a mandated task. With this launch, Birla Open Minds is scripting a new chapter in accessible, values-driven schooling in India.
The campuses span preschool to grade 12 and operate on an educational model rooted in academic rigour, empathy, and experiential learning. Classrooms are digitised, science and maths labs are fitted for experimentation, libraries are wired for research, and arts and athletics are given a front-row seat.
“Our mission is to build transformative learning ecosystems that ignite curiosity, nurture character, and empower students to question, imagine, and lead with purpose,” said Birla Open Minds MD Nirvaan Birla. “Each new campus brings us closer to a future where quality education is a powerful, accessible reality for every child – not a privilege, but a promise.”
Director & COO Yatharth Gautam added, “As we extend our footprint into Koderma, Singur, and Punpun, our priority remains clear – to provide accessible, forward-thinking education that builds resilience, empathy, and innovation in every learner.”
The new campuses, built to be more than just schools, include amphitheatres, arts hubs, and sports zones, designed to encourage balance between book-smarts and life-skills. These spaces aim to create future-ready learners with a global mindset and a rooted moral compass.
This move marks a significant stride in the institution’s broader goal: reimagining Indian education as inclusive, intuitive, and deeply impactful-one inspired learner at a time.
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.
