Brands
Vedanta chairman’s son dies suddenly in New York at 49
NEW YORK: Shock rippled through India’s business elite on Thursday after Agnivesh Agarwal, son of Vedanta chairman Anil Agarwal, died suddenly of a heart attack in New York, cutting short a life that blended privilege with boardroom heft.
Agnivesh, 49, was recovering at Mount Sinai Hospital following a skiing accident in the US. The prognosis had been positive. Then came the collapse. A sudden cardiac arrest ended it.
Calling it “the darkest day of my life”, Anil Agarwal said his son had been healthy, full of energy and plans. “We believed the worst was behind us,” he wrote, adding that fate intervened without warning.
Born in Patna on June 3rd 1976, Agnivesh studied at Mayo College, Ajmer, before carving out his own path in business. He founded Fujairah Gold and later rose to become chairman of Hindustan Zinc, one of Vedanta’s crown jewels. Colleagues described him as understated, driven and unusually grounded for an industrial heir.
In a personal note, Anil Agarwal traced his son’s journey from a middle-class Bihari family to the upper echelons of corporate India, describing him as a devoted son, protective brother and loyal friend.
The loss lands hard—not just on a family, but on a business empire grooming its next chapter. A life accelerating towards greater influence has stopped mid-stride. The boardroom goes quiet; the legacy, abruptly, is unfinished.
Today is the darkest day of my life.
My beloved son, Agnivesh, left us far too soon. He was just 49 years old, healthy, full of life, and dreams. Following a skiing accident in the US, he was recovering well in Mount Sinai Hospital, New York. We believed the worst was behind us.… pic.twitter.com/hDQEDNI262
— Anil Agarwal (@AnilAgarwal_Ved) January 7, 2026
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.
