Brands
Narayan Ranjan takes charge as head of strategy and operations at Adani Group
MUMBAI: Narayan Ranjan has been appointed head of strategy and operations at the Adani Group, stepping into a pivotal group-level role overseeing corporate and consumer branding as well as corporate communications.
Based in Ahmedabad and Mumbai, Ranjan is part of the Adani Group’s corporate brand custodian unit, working closely with business heads across the conglomerate to shape, coordinate and execute branding and communication strategies for both internal and external stakeholders. His mandate includes building robust operating processes, improving efficiencies and strengthening strategic reporting across the function.
The appointment caps more than three decades of professional experience spanning conglomerates, media, entertainment, consulting and law. Ranjan most recently served as senior advisor at Quintillion Business Media, an Adani Group company, where he worked with senior leadership on strategic planning, project execution, mergers and acquisitions, and managed the NDTV CEO’s office across brands including NDTV, NDTV India, NDTV Profit, BQ Prime and IANS.
Alongside his corporate role, Ranjan continues as visiting faculty at Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai, where he teaches securities law and corporate criminal liability to postgraduate and undergraduate students.
Earlier in his career, he spent over 14 years at Viacom18 Media, including stints as group chief financial officer and senior executive vice president and chief of staff, driving aggressive growth, complex joint-venture management, large-scale M&A and governance reforms. His résumé also includes senior leadership roles at Star TV Network, advisory work with EY’s forensic practice, and start-up scaling experience as chief operating officer at Happydemic.
Known as a non-conformist and outspoken leader, Ranjan blends strategy with execution, governance with growth, and corporate rigour with a strong people-first ethos.
For the Adani Group, the message is clear: brand, strategy and operations are no longer parallel tracks — they are now firmly fused at the centre.
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.
