Brands
Swiggy expands Food on Train to 122 stations and widens booking time
MUMBAI: Good food clearly travels well, and millions of passengers proved it this festive season. Swiggy has expanded its Food on Train service to 122 stations across India while also stretching the pre-order window from a day to four, giving travellers more time to plan their on-board meals.
The newly added stations include Anantpur, Madurai, Alwar, Kozhikode, Khurda Road, Yesvantpur and Gonda. Swiggy said the expansion reflects its aim to make reliable meals available to passengers no matter where they travel.
The festive season from 16 October to 3 November saw passengers turn to familiar favourites while heading home. Biryani topped the national charts, followed by masala dosa, burgers, pav bhaji, margarita pizza and corn chaat. A full 35 per cent of users ordered at least one sweet with their meal, choosing indulgences such as triple chocomelt waffle, tender coconut ice cream, gulab jamun, biscoff cheesecake jar, rasgulla and black forest pastry.
Popular restaurant partners included Haldiram’s, Paradise Biryani, A2B, Hotel Aryaas, Annai Restaurant, Rominus Pizza and McDonald’s, showing that passengers relied on both iconic local kitchens and national brands during their journeys.
Swiggy VP food strategy, customer experience and new initiatives Deepak Maloo said, the festive rush highlighted how people use the service to bring the flavours of home to their train seats. He said the widened 96 hour pre-booking window will make planning meals even easier for passengers.
Food preferences varied across regions, revealing India’s diverse festive palate. Northern travellers leaned towards biryani, aloo paratha, red paprika pizza and aloo tikki burgers. In the South, dosa, curd rice, pongal, poori sabzi and idli ruled the orders. The East preferred thalis and rice bowls, while the West relished pav bhaji and vada pav.
Some riders took things further. One customer placed a single order with 45 items, and on one festive journey, 28 passengers in the same coach of the SMVT Bengaluru to New Tinsukia Special ate meals delivered at the same station.
Top ordering trains included the Garib Rath Express (Chennai to Delhi, 12611), Seshadri Express (17209), Sabari Superfast Express (20630) and Kerala Express (12626).
With expanded coverage and a longer booking window, Swiggy’s Food on Train is steadily turning rail journeys into shared dining moments, bringing passengers comfort, convenience and a taste of home at their seats.
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.
