Cipla, the Indian multinational pharmaceutical company, has named Arun Kakatkar as global chief people officer (CPO).
Kakatkar joins from Microsoft India, where he has served as human resources leader since February 2024. At Microsoft, he led efforts to build an inclusive, high-performance culture while aligning people strategy with business growth. His work focused on developing leadership teams, enabling organisational agility, and creating systems that connected talent, culture and customer outcomes. Customer obsession and cross-functional alignment were central to his approach.
Before Microsoft, Arun Kakatkar was the president and chief of strategy and organisation at Kalyani Group and Bharat Forge from December 2021 to February 2024. He spearheaded enterprise-wide transformation, built leadership capacity, and designed strategies for global diversification. He also established planning and review mechanisms to improve accountability and align the group with end-markets.
Earlier in his career, he spent over 10 years at TE Connectivity as the managing director of India and vice president-HR for Asia Pacific, managing 9,000 employees across sales, manufacturing, engineering and shared services. He has also held senior HR roles at Ingersoll Rand, Flextronics, Foseco, and Black & Decker, with expertise in talent development, M&A integration, restructuring, and capability building across India and the region.
At Cipla, Kakatkar will lead the global people strategy. His priorities include strengthening workforce capability, accelerating leadership development, and enhancing organisational effectiveness to support the company’s long-term growth and international expansion plans.
We at HRKatha wish Arun Kakatkar all the best for his new assignment!
