Mahindra & Mahindra elevates Rohit Thakur to the role of group chief human resources officer, effective April. He succeeds Ruzbeh Irani, who is set to retire as president, group human resources.
Irani is stepping down upon reaching the age of superannuation, bringing to a close a nearly two-decade tenure with the Mahindra Group. During his time at Mahindra, Irani held several senior leadership roles, including president, group communications and ethics and chief brand officer, before assuming the group HR mandate.
Thakur, who will succeed Irani in the role, currently serves as CHRO for Mahindra’s Auto and Farm Sectors, where he leads HR strategy across manufacturing, engineering and global operations for one of the group’s largest businesses, People Matters reported.
In that role, he was responsible for talent management, leadership development and workforce strategy supporting the sector’s transformation and growth priorities.
Thakur brings more than 30 years of senior human resources leadership experience, having worked across diverse sectors including technology, financial services, manufacturing and education-driven organisations. Before joining Mahindra, he served as Chief Human Resources Officer at Paytm and LEAD School, where he played a key role in supporting organisational scale through culture-led transformation and learning-focused growth initiatives.
Earlier in his career, Thakur held leadership positions in human resources at Accenture India, Microsoft India and GE, with responsibilities spanning India and the United States. During this phase, he led several global HR programmes covering organisation design, mergers and acquisitions integration, and leadership capability building.
A graduate of XLRI Jamshedpur, Thakur also holds a commerce degree from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi. He began his professional journey with organisations such as the Eicher Group and Bausch & Lomb, gaining a strong grounding in industrial relations, manufacturing HR and people development.
