India Inc.’s new hiring play: Bring in industry outsiders

Firms believe hiring from other sectors will question existing practices, enable new work styles

- Priyamvada C & Devina Sengupta

India Inc. is increasingly rewriting its leadership playbook as more companies tap talent from unrelated sectors for top roles.

From traditional manufacturing to startups, more firms are hiring CXOs from across sectors as market volatility, artificial intelligence (AI) and digitization redefine business models.

Experts say hiring a CEO, a managing director (MD), or a chief financial officer (CFO) from unrelated sectors brings fresh thinking, and helps reimagine how things can be done.

Over the past year, the boardroom shuffle has seen Neelendra Singh move from footwear major Adidas to Lemon Tree Hotels as managing director last month. Abhishek Maheshwari joined fintech platform OneAssist as CEO from alternative asset manager Blackstone in September, and Shubbam Sharma took charge as chief growth officer at furniture startup Pepperfry from crowdfunding platform ImpactGuru in October.

Harsh Chitale, who is expected to join auto major Hero MotoCorp in January 2026, comes from lighting products maker Signify.