In a strategic shift, corporate India is actively rewriting its leadership playbook by breaking down traditional industry barriers. Companies across sectors are increasingly appointing top executives from completely unrelated fields to drive growth and innovation in an era defined by market volatility and technological disruption.
The Rise of the Cross-Industry Leader
This trend marks a significant departure from conventional hiring practices where companies typically sought leaders with deep industry-specific experience. Today, firms from traditional manufacturing to digitally-native startups are recognizing the value that CXOs from unrelated sectors bring to the table. These leaders ask sharper questions, introduce fresh thinking, and help reimagine established business processes.
Experts highlight that hiring a CEO, managing director, or CFO who has led acquisitions in different sectors prevents a myopic outlook that sometimes develops among executives who have spent their entire careers within one industry.
Notable Cross-Sector Appointments
The boardroom shuffle over the past year provides compelling evidence of this trend. Several high-profile appointments demonstrate how India Inc is breaking industry silos to push growth:
- Neelendra Singh moved from footwear major Adidas to Lemon Tree Hotels as managing director
- Abhishek Maheshwari joined fintech platform OneAssist as CEO from alternative asset manager Blackstone
- Shubbam Sharma became chief growth officer at furniture startup Pepperfry from crowdfunding platform ImpactGuru
- Harsh Chitale is expected to join auto major Hero MotoCorp in January 2026 from lighting products maker Signify
- Niranjan Gupta joined FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever as CFO from Hero MotoCorp
- Mayank Gupta moved from Jindal Steel to become group CFO of CarDekho
Interestingly, the last two appointments marked their second stints at their respective firms, indicating that companies value both external perspectives and institutional knowledge.
Why Companies Are Embracing Outsider Perspectives
Puneet Kalra, MD of executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates, explains the rationale behind this shift. "When it comes to traditional firms, the initial comfort is to find people from within the industry, but inadequate depth of talent within the sector or the need to differentiate causes the need to look at adjacent sectors and not hire from a rival," Kalra told Mint.
He further noted that certain sectors like hospitality, telecom, and FMCG can be collectively viewed as pan-India distribution businesses, making transitions between them more plausible. For startups specifically, Kalra emphasized that "the startup sector needs CEOs from other sectors as their business model is typically unique and the key skill needed is systems thinking, i.e., connect the dots and imagine new business models."
An HUL spokesperson reinforced this perspective, stating that hiring from different sectors adds new expertise, strengthens strategic thinking, and drives innovation, which is critical in today's consumer landscape. This approach helps companies stay competitive and adapt to fast-changing market conditions.
The Practical Impact of Cross-Sector Leadership
The process of identifying the right cross-sector CXO is extensive, with search firms often spending months to find suitable candidates. Companies implement thorough checks and balances to ensure senior executives are properly vetted, with evidence suggesting higher success rates when leaders come from different industries.
Pepperfry has been particularly active in this space, making several cross-sector hires. Joee De Choudhury, head of human resource at the company, explained their rationale: "Furniture e-commerce, as a category, is still relatively nascent and evolving in India. Unlike more mature sectors, it continues to benefit immensely from diverse thinking and cross-industry expertise." The company remains open to continuing this hiring approach because "innovation often comes from looking at old problems through new lenses."
Listed broking firm AngelOne has adopted a similar philosophy, hiring leaders who can connect various business facets spanning finance, product, and technology rather than operating within just one segment. The company brought former Flipkart executive Arief Mohamad as chief business officer and Rohit Chatter from Walmart as its chief data officer.
Subhash Menon, chief human resource officer at AngelOne, described the advantage of this approach: "When you bring in CXOs from unrelated sectors, you get what I call productive distance. For us, it's not about where someone has worked, but what they have solved and how they think. We hire for mindset, adaptability, and proven excellence, because building the next decade of leadership requires capability over category."
Future Outlook and Expanding Trends
The movement of executives between sectors shows no signs of slowing. Jyoti Bowen Nath, managing partner at search firm Claricent Partners, reports seeing CXOs from the consumer space moving to old economy sectors like manufacturing, including metals and mining. "With the fast-changing global scenario, Indian companies want CXOs who have multinational exposure," Nath observed.
Recent examples include the head of a precious metals company being hired by a green energy business and a chief of marketing moving from a pharma company to a tyre firm. Industry watchers predict that the shift of CXOs from traditional firms to startups will become more prominent in the coming years.
Global investment and advisory firms like Elara Capital support this approach, noting that top-level management skills are increasingly valued over sector familiarity. Karan Taurani, executive vice president at Elara Capital, stated: "It is crucial for the top-level hires to effectively conduct business and collaborate with partners, suppliers and other relationships. We can expect to see more such hires happen as startups continue to build and grow into large organizations."
As artificial intelligence, digitization, and market volatility continue to reshape business landscapes, India Inc's strategic embrace of cross-industry leadership represents a fundamental evolution in how companies build competitive advantage and drive sustainable growth.
