Titan Company has elevated Priya Mathilakath Pillai to Chief People Officer, effective 1 April 2027, marking a key transition in the Tata Group company’s senior HR leadership. The board approved her appointment at a meeting held on 7 August 2026.
Pillai will succeed Swadesh Behera, who is set to retire from Titan on 31 March 2027, and she will join the company’s senior management personnel in the new role. She currently serves as Head of HR for Titan’s retail, corporate, and manufacturing businesses, a position she has held since December 2015.
In that role, spanning more than a decade, Pillai leads HR for over 8,000 on-roll employees and around 5,000 off-roll staff, and manages HR across manufacturing and support functions. She also oversees HR for more than 800 business associates that together employ over 15,000 people, and serves as ICC chairperson for POSH, driving the company’s diversity and inclusion charter.
Pillai brings around three decades of cross-industry experience spanning HR, sales, training, and e-commerce. She began her career in the hospitality sector at Taj Hotels in the mid-1990s, handling banquet and room sales, before moving through roles across consumer goods, retail, and insurance.
Her earlier career includes stints associated with Unilever, Mahindra Retail, and Aviva Life Insurance India. She holds a degree in Economics, Sociology, and Political Science from Mount Carmel College, Bengaluru, and has completed executive education associated with IIM Bangalore and Harvard Business School.
