TEDx-Ready HR Leaders Transforming India's Workforce
- Parikshit Khanna
- 20 hours ago
- 3 min read
India's HR landscape is brimming with dynamic leaders whose ideas deserve a bigger platform. From AI-driven talent strategies to DEI transformation and building resilient cultures, these professionals are shaping the future of work — and they're primed for TEDx stages across Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore.
This curated list highlights rising HR voices with keynote prowess, authorship, and corporate impact. Each leader was selected based on recent industry rankings (ETHRWorld Top 50, Professionals Mag 2026, and others) and prioritized for influence, storytelling ability, and TEDx fit. Crucially, none have a confirmed TEDx talk as of early 2026 — making them ideal fresh picks for organizers.
The Top 25
Akshita Kumar — HR Visionary & Emotional Intelligence Specialist. Keynote speaker and Top 100 Emerging HR Leader. Known for emotional intelligence workshops that bridge the gap between leadership theory and practice.
Aarti Srivastava — CHRO, Capgemini India. ETHRWorld Top 50 honoree driving DEI and tech transformation. Architect of talent strategy for one of India's largest global firms.
Amit Das — Director HR, BCCL Worldwide. Top 50 Thought Leader and culture builder driving HR innovation across India's media sector.
Anurag Patnaik — Head HR, Nestlé India. FMCG leadership veteran with a sharp focus on employee experience and high-performance team design.
Archana Chadha — Head HR, HSBC India. Banking HR strategist and future-of-work advocate championing inclusion and organizational agility.
Ashok Ramchandran — Director HR, Aditya Birla Group. Leading group-wide transformation across manufacturing with deep speaker circuit experience.
Atrayee S Sanyal — VP HRM, Tata Steel. Pioneering sustainability-centered people strategy and resilient workforce building in heavy industry.
Ayush Gupta — Director HR, GAIL. Energy sector CHRO and digital HR pioneer navigating the energy transition talent challenge.
Deepti Gupta — EVP HR, Jubilant FoodWorks. Scaling talent in QSR at speed, with deep expertise in youth engagement, gig economy, and skilling.
Dr. C. Jayakumar — EVP & CHRO, Larsen & Toubro. Managing people strategy for mega infrastructure projects — a unique TEDx narrative in engineering HR.
Juhi Sharma — CHRO & Top 50 Influencer. 14+ years transforming culture and talent from startup scale to enterprise growth.
Kinjal Choudhary — Global President HR, Cadila Pharmaceuticals. Driving global pharma operations with an ethics-first people strategy.
Lakshmi C — Sr. MD & CHRO, Accenture India. At the forefront of AI-HR integration within one of the world's largest consulting firms.
Madhu Srivastava — Group CHRO, Vedanta Resources. Leading global DEI implementation across mining and natural resources.
Manish Patil — Director HR, ONGC. Building workforce resilience in India's oil and gas sector through sectoral leadership.
Mayank Rautela — Group CHRO, Apollo Hospitals. Shaping post-pandemic healthcare HR with a patient-centric talent philosophy.
Meenakshi Priyam — Head HR Automotive, Mahindra & Mahindra. Steering the HR side of India's EV transition and the future of mobility work.
Nupur Singh Mallick — Group CHRO, Tata Group. Operating at conglomerate scale with a focus on ethical leadership and legacy innovation.
Pavitra Singh — CHRO, PepsiCo India. Redesigning frontline experience in consumer goods with people-ops thinking.
Piyush Mehta — CHRO India, Genpact. Navigating the evolution of BPO/IT services through gig and remote work models.
Prem Singh — President Group HR, JK Group. Tackling family business succession and transformation across cement, paper, and diversified sectors.
Richard Lobo — CPO, Tech Mahindra. Fighting the tech talent war with engineering-first HR strategies in IT services.
Salil Lal — CHRO, Maruti Suzuki India. Managing people strategy for volume auto manufacturing and complex supply chains.
Shweta Mohanty — Head HR, SAP India. Championing AI ethics in HR and software industry talent strategy.
Soumendra Mattagajasingh — Group CHRO, ICICI Bank. Driving fintech HR disruption and building the digital finance workforce of tomorrow.
For Contrast: HR Leaders Who've Already Done TEDx
These known HR figures have already graced TEDx stages across India — useful for benchmarking or co-speaker outreach:
Harjeet Khanduja (Reliance Jio) spoke on HR cultures. Prabir Jha (Founder, People Advisory) is a recognized TEDx speaker on leadership. Sahil Nayar has delivered 4 TEDx talks on HR influence. Major Vandana Sharma has done 8 TEDx appearances on leadership and DEI. Vikas Shirodkar spoke at TEDx on mindset transformation.
How to Use This List
If you're a TEDx organizer in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, or Bangalore, this is your shortlist. Reach out via LinkedIn, pitch future-of-work themes (AI in talent, resilient cultures, DEI at scale), and tap into India's next wave of HR thought leadership. For business development or lead generation, format this into a LinkedIn article with direct outreach links and a clear call to action.
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