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HRKatha Rising Star Leadership Awards Honours the Next Generation of HR Leaders at its Inaugural Edition

November 4, 2025

HRKatha Rising Star Leadership Awards, designed to recognise and celebrate the exceptional talent shaping the future of HR in India, concluded the inaugural edition on 31st October 2025, honouring the emerging HR leaders from the corporate word. The event aims to spotlight individuals poised to redefine HR practices and honour those making significant contributions to their organizations and the industry as a whole. By providing a stage for these rising stars, the awards foster a culture of excellence and innovation within the HR profession.

HRKatha Rising Star Leadership Awards

The inaugural HRKatha Rising Star Leadership Awards drew 129 entries from across India’s corporate landscape over a two-month nomination period. After rigorous evaluation, 59 entries were shortlisted and honoured during the event.

The Jury Composition

The jury’s composition reflected the breadth of India’s corporate landscape. Led by Sandip Ghose (MD & CEO, Birla Corps) as Jury Chair, with Ramesh Mitragotri (Group Executive President – Human Resource, Aditya Birla Group) as Jury Co-Chair, the panel included: Ashwini Prashara (CHRO, Hydrocarbons, Reliance Industries), Rajorshi Ganguli (President & Group Head-HR, Alkem Laboratories), Ayush Gupta (Director-HR, GAIL), Praveen Purohit (CHRO, Vedanta Aluminium), Subir Verma (ED & CHRO, Power Business, RP Sanjiv Goenka Group), S Parthasarathy (iMeT, EVP, L&T Technology Services), Rupesh Tripathi (Head-People and Culture, KPMG), Saba Adil (CHRO, Edelweiss), and Pooja Manocha (CHRO, Bata India).

Over two weeks, this distinguished panel evaluated cases with surgical precision. The margins proved razor-thin—often separated by a mere 0.2 to 0.5 points. At times, the difference between finalist and winner was negligible in numerical terms.

Sandip Ghose, MD & CEO, Birla Corps, articulated the jury’s philosophy, “As a jury, we weren’t just looking for good HR practices — we were looking for creativity that redefines value creation. It wasn’t about who had the most polished process or the biggest scale, but about who dared to think differently, who connected people and performance in a way that drove measurable business impact. What stood out for us were those entries that showed HR not as a support function, but as a co-creator of strategy, innovation, and growh.”

Praveen Purohit, CHRO, Vedanta Aluminium, expanded on the evaluation criteria, “While evaluating the case studies, what truly impressed us were the initiatives that went beyond policies and processes to create real business value. We looked for stories where HR wasn’t working in isolation but driving innovation hand-in-hand with business leaders. The best entries demonstrated how people practices can fuel performance, build agility, and create an ecosystem where both talent and organisation grow together.”

Rupesh Tripathi, Head-People and Culture, KPMG, captured the jury’s sentiment, “I thoroughly enjoyed reading the entries and case studies. Some very good work. Thank you for providing these young professionals a platform to showcase their work.”

Rajorshi Ganguli, President & Group Head-HR, Alkem Laboratories, said, “The experience was good. The work done by different applicants were good. It’s good to know so many innovative work being done by different people in different organisations and especially the hard work behind it.”

The Winners

Sn No.

Name

Designation

Company

Status of win

Category

Anil Kumar Sagiraju

Dy Manager Business HR

Amara Raja Energy & Mobility

Winner

Business Catalyst

Meenakshi Thakur

AGM – HR

Bharat Aluminium Company

Winner

Culture Bridge Builder

Chintala Siva Sankar

AM-HR

Amara Raja Energy & Mobility

Winner

Experience Wizard

Mandeep Patter

Senior Manager – Employee Experience

Axis Max Life Insurance

Winner

Happiness Ambassador

Varun Jain

AVP HR

HSBC

Winner

HR Technovator

Lionel Paul David

CHRO

Watertec India

Winner

HR Trailblazer

Gaurav Modak

Rewards Manager

HEMPEL A/S

Winner

Rewards Guru

Akhilesh Rai

Deputy General Manager

Maruti Suzuki India

Winner

Shop Floor Diplomat

Sumit Rastogi

DGM-HR

HyFun Foods

Winner

Talent Magnet

Richa Alagh

Chief Manager – HR Operations Head

Axis Max Life Insurance

Winner

Transformation Titan

Deepanjan Sinha

Manager – HR

Uflex

Winner

Young HR Turk

Soumavo Chatterjee

Assistant Vice President

Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail

First Runner Up

Business Catalyst

Riddhi Bhupendra Sonavia

Senior HR Executive

Draeger India Private Limited

First Runner Up

Culture Bridge Builder

Sonal Manilal Harsiddhe

Assistant Manager

EPL Limited

First Runner Up

Happiness Ambassador

Amit Kaul

Head HR

ONGC Petro Additions

First Runner Up

HR Trailblazer

G Suresh Kumar

Executive, AI Business TA

Amara Raja Infra

First Runner Up

Talent Magnet

Vineeta Pandey

Senior Manager

Century Enka Limited

First Runner Up

Transformation Titan

Himanshu Gupta

AVP Performance & Rewards

HSBC

First Runner Up

Young HR Turk

Shiv Shankar Khandelwal

Sr. Manager (HR)

IFFCO/ IFFCO eBazar Ltd.

Second Runner Up

Business Catalyst

Hevin Verghese C

MANAGER (HR & ADMIN.)

Petronet LNG

Second Runner Up

Happiness Ambassador

Subrata Kr Saha

Sr. General Manager – HRD

Ambuja Neotia

Second Runner Up

HR Trailblazer

Aaron Dsouza

Head – HR

Dr. Reddy’s & Nestle Health Science

Second Runner Up

HR Trailblazer

Janvi Ashar

General Manager – HR & Admin

Unipath Specialty Laboratories

Second Runner Up

Transformation Titan

Ramratan Yadav

Manager

Maruti Suzuki India

Second Runner Up

Young HR Turk

Amiit Kumar

Lead – Business HR

Aditya Birla Money

Finalist

Business Catalyst

Kashmira Sharma

Director – HR Business Partners, India

Marvell Semiconductors

Finalist

Business Catalyst

Hiral Patel

Senior Manager – Human Resources

Reliance Industries

Finalist

Business Catalyst

Sujata Phukan

HR Partner Associate Manager

Accenture Solutions

Finalist

Business Catalyst

Sri Deepti Kocherlakota

People and Culture Business Partner

Vendavo

Finalist

Business Catalyst

Jagannathan U

Deputy Manager‚ AI Biz HR

Mangal Industries

Finalist

Business Catalyst

Ankit Dangi

Chief Operating Officer

SenseHR

Finalist

Business Catalyst

Anubrata Chatterjee

GM HR

Rupa & Co

Finalist

Business Catalyst

K R Ramakrishnan

Lead – Center of Excellence

Reliance Retail

Finalist

Business Catalyst

Ishita Agghi

Co-Founder

CLiKD.ai

Finalist

HR Technovator

Dakshdeep Singh

Senior Vice President

PeopleStrong Technologies

Finalist

HR Trailblazer

Jitendra Kumar Rajpurohit

Sr Manager HR

UltraTech Cement

Finalist

HR Trailblazer

Ruben Arun Kumar

Senior Manager, HR

Quest Diagnostics HTAS India

Finalist

HR Trailblazer

G Harikrishnama Raju

Assistant General Manager

JSW Cement

Finalist

HR Trailblazer

Chinhita Bose

Assistant Director- Human Resources

Parul University

Finalist

HR Trailblazer

T K Bharath Kumar

Regional Rewards Lead Americas

Novartis

Finalist

HR Trailblazer

Shreysa Gardner

Senior Officer

JK Cement

Finalist

Talent Magnet

Vandana Saxena

HR Professional

Voyage Ahead Solutions LLP

Finalist

Transformation Titan

Adithiya Venkataraman

CHRO

Hinduja Renewables Energy

Finalist

Transformation Titan

P Padmaja

Assistant Manager

Amara Raja Energy and Mobility

Finalist

Transformation Titan

Keerthi Narayanan

Manager

Aspire Systens

Finalist

Transformation Titan

K R Ramakrishnan

Lead – HR Center of Excellence

Reliance Retail

Finalist

Transformation Titan

Shukla Asitkumar Niranjanbhai

Senior Manager

Zydus Lifesciences

Finalist

Transformation Titan

Kirti Poddar

Head -Human Resources

Mintifi Finserv

Finalist

Transformation Titan

S S Mythraye

Senior Manager

Intas Pharmaceuticals

Finalist

Young HR Turk

Bharath Kumar M

Sr. Executive ‚Äì Business HR

Amara Raja Energy C Mobility

Finalist

Young HR Turk

Prasanth PP

Assistant Manager, Group OD and L&D

Amara Raja Energy C Mobility

Finalist

Young HR Turk

Vedansh Dubey

Assistant Manager Business Catalyst

Wipro

Finalist

Young HR Turk

Divay Bhardwaj

Chief Manager – Human Resources

Axis Max Life Insurance

Finalist

Young HR Turk

Chinmay Jha

Deputy Manager

DS Foods

Finalist

Young HR Turk

P NAGESWARA RAO

Senior Manager – HR & Admin

SEIL Energy India

Finalist

Young HR Turk

Hevin Verghese C

Manager HR & Admin

Petronet LNG

Finalist

Young HR Turk

Tushar Kanti

Asst. Manager – HR

Wipro

Finalist

Young HR Turk

Mugdha Mahambrey

GM HR

Chalet Hotels

Finalist

Young HR Turk

S Sunil Kamath

Senior HR Business Partner

Microsoft

Finalist

Young HR Turk

Beyond recognition

The event’s intimate format—deliberately boutique rather than expansive—enabled depth impossible in larger ceremonies. Panel discussions explored ideas thoroughly rather than rushing through talking points. Winners engaged in substantive conversations with jury members about implementation challenges and measurable outcomes.

Lionel Paul David, CHRO, Watertec, reflected on the significance, “I thoroughly enjoyed being part of the event and am truly grateful to HRKatha for this recognition. It’s encouraging to see platforms like these celebrating meaningful HR innovations and the people behind them.”

Sumit Rastogi, Deputy General Manager at HyFun Foods, found particular value in the intellectual exchange: “I truly enjoyed the panel discussions — they were so thought-provoking and insightful. I’m deeply grateful for the recognition and the opportunity to be part of such a wonderful celebration. The entire setup was beautiful, and the evening couldn’t have been better to honour young HR talent alongside their mentors and guides.”

Jaya Suri, CHRO at Kimbal, who spoke at the event, praised the approach, “The content was really insightful and full of learning. I also loved the idea of keeping it a boutique, small event focused on meaningful content rather than size.”

Dwarakanath noted the quality of exchange, “The quality of speakers was outstanding, and the discussions were truly in-depth and to the point. You rarely come across such closed-door events with this level of meaningful exchange — and that’s exactly what HRKatha has built. I thoroughly enjoyed being part of it and look forward to seeing more such events in the future.”

Jaikrishna B, President Group HR at Amara Raja Group, who served as both speaker and awards presenter, captured the event’s potential, “Everything about the event was wonderful — from the discussions to the overall energy. It would be exciting to see it grow even bigger next time. It truly has the potential to become one of the most anticipated events of the year.”

The inaugural HRKatha Rising Star Leadership Awards didn’t just recognise emerging talent—it validated that the future of HR leadership in India is already here, challenging convention and redefining what it means to build organisations where both people and performance thrive.