Dr Niharika Rai has assumed charge as chief human resources officer (CHRO) at TK Elevator India, effective 28 September 2026. In her new role, Rai brings experience in strategic HR leadership, organisational transformation, talent management and workforce capability building across global technology, engineering and manufacturing organisations.
Prior to joining TK Elevator, Rai was HR leader for Microsoft’s Cloud + AI, Security and MDQ businesses at its India Development Centre. Between October 2024 and September 2026, she supported more than 7,500 employees and partnered with over 20 senior executives, including corporate vice presidents, vice presidents and partners. Her responsibilities included organisation design, skills transformation and developing organisational capabilities to support the company’s AI-first transformation.
Before Microsoft, Rai served as group HR head – P&ES and TBSPL at Thermax from May 2022 to October 2024. She led HR operations, employee relations, compliance, employee engagement, compensation and rewards, talent acquisition, performance management, learning and development, and administration for P&ES. She also helped build and scale TBSPL, establishing HR systems, governance frameworks, policies and an HR business partnering model, while working closely with joint venture board members and technology partners.
Rai joined Thermax after a stint at TD SYNNEX, where she was director–talent management, Asia Pacific, from July 2021 to May 2022. She led talent and leadership development initiatives across 13 countries, with responsibilities spanning succession planning, organisational development, post-merger integration, change management and diversity and inclusion.
Earlier, Rai spent nearly eight years at Honeywell in several HR leadership roles. As global talent management director, she led talent management, organisational development, leadership development and culture and change management for Honeywell’s Home and Building Technologies business globally, working closely with the CEO and senior leadership team. She also developed executive leadership programmes, global succession management interventions and organisation design initiatives.
During her tenure at Honeywell Process Solutions, Rai served as HR head – global business operations, supporting employees across the Americas, Europe and Asia. Her work included strategic HR, organisation design, talent management, change management, leadership development and productivity.
Rai began her career in organisational development at Tata AutoComp Systems, where she worked on talent reviews, leadership development, competency frameworks and assessment centres.
Rai is an alumnus of XLRI Jamshedpur and her experience spans enterprise people strategy, executive leadership development, succession planning, organisational design and large-scale transformation across geographies and business environments.
