EssilorLuxottica has appointed Nitin Soni as head of human resources for its Greater India operations. Soni took charge in September 2026 and is based in Bengaluru.
He joins the eyewear group from Reckitt, where he spent more than 13 years across the company’s India manufacturing and supply organisation. His most recent role there was HR head, supply and employee relations, based in Gurugram, which he held from January 2019 until September 2026.
Soni’s career runs largely through factories. He started in 1998 as JM-HR at Swaraj Combine Division and stayed for eight years. From September 2006 to March 2008, he was an HR executive at Sun Pharma, where he headed HR for a 700-person manufacturing plant in Jammu. A short stint at RB followed, from March 2008 to December 2009, then an assistant manager-HR role at BD in Bawal until December 2011, and a manager-HR posting at Gates India in Chandigarh until June 2013.
He returned to RB, later renamed Reckitt, in June 2013 as plant HR manager for two Jammu units. From March 2015 to December 2018, he was site HR manager at Sitarganj, handling contract labour, recruitment and legal work across two plants with a combined turnover of about Rs 3,000 crore and a headcount above 2,000. He holds an MBA in HR from Symbiosis.
Soni marked the end of his Reckitt tenure in a LinkedIn post, writing that what he found at the company was “a purpose” rather than simply a role.
