Pooja Venkatram has taken over as director and head-HR at BASF India, moving from Mattel Asia Pacific after more than six years with the toy company.
Based in Mumbai, Venkatram comes to BASF after a career spent largely across consumer-facing businesses. At Mattel, she was regional HR head-South Asia, leading the people function across India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
She joined Mattel in January 2020 and remained with the company until July 2026. The role gave her a regional mandate spanning markets with different workforce and business requirements, extending her experience beyond a single-country HR remit.
Before Mattel, Venkatram was head-HR, India at General Mills. Her work there included leading the culture and employee-engagement agenda for the India business.
Earlier, she spent nearly six years with Mondel?z International across a series of roles that took her through different parts of the organisation. As HR business lead for integrated supply chain in AMEA, she worked
with the company’s supply-chain organisation. Her earlier responsibilities included corporate functions, IT and Mondel?z business services, as well as talent and organisational effectiveness.
Venkatram’s grounding in talent and organisation development goes back to Godrej Consumer Products, where she spent nearly four years working across performance management, talent management, employee engagement and organisational development.
She began her career with Right Management as a management consultant, working on competency assessment, organisational development, employee surveys and career transition.
Across those assignments, Venkatram has worked on both specialist and generalist sides of HR, moving from organisation development and talent into business partnering, supply chain HR, country leadership and eventually a multi-market regional mandate.
Her move to BASF also represents a change in industry. After senior HR assignments with Mattel, General Mills and Mondel?z, she now moves from predominantly consumer businesses into the chemicals sector while taking responsibility for the people agenda of BASF India.
Venkatram holds an MBA in human resource management from Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, completed in 2007.
