Birlasoft has announced a key leadership transition with the appointment of Arun Rao as chief human resources officer (CHRO), effective 1 April, 2026, following the resignation of Priti Kataria. The development, approved at the company’s board meeting held on 30 March, reflects a strategic reset in its people leadership.
Rao has been associated with the CKA Birla Group since 2020 and most recently served as group head – leadership development. Furthermore, he brings over three decades of experience spanning talent management, organisational transformation, and leadership capability building. His return to the CHRO role at Birlasoft is particularly notable, given his earlier stint as chief people officer at the company, positioning him as a leader with both institutional familiarity and transformation experience.
His career trajectory reflects deep expertise in building scalable HR systems across large, complex organisations.
Prior to Birlasoft, Rao served as India HR head at DXC Technology and held leadership roles at Deloitte, where he led talent strategy and leadership- development initiatives. His earlier experience spans organisations such as CSC, Satyam Computers, and Steel Authority of India, giving him a blend of exposure across global IT services and core industries.
Academically, Rao holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Delhi and a Post Graduate Diploma in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations from XLRI Jamshedpur—a combination that underpins his long-standing grounding in both business fundamentals and people strategy.
The transition follows the resignation of Priti Kataria, who steps down after a relatively short tenure as CHRO. Kataria brought with her over two decades of experience, most notably a 26-year career at Wipro, where she held multiple senior HR leadership roles, including senior vice president and CHRO for Wipro Enterprise Futuring. In that role, she led the HR charter for a complex global business with over 1,30,000 employees across 40+ countries, driving large-scale transformation, talent supply chain strategies, and inclusion initiatives.
At Birlasoft, Kataria was responsible for fostering a high-performance culture, strengthening employer branding, and driving a more agile, people-centric organisation.
Her academic background reflects a strong foundation in HR and organisational behaviour, with a Master’s degree from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and a recently completed PhD in Organisational Behaviour from Indian Institute of Management Indore.
