People Move · 8 September 2026
Hero MotoCorp appoints Richa Malik as Head HR – Corporate & Enabling Functions
Richa Malik joins Hero MotoCorp from Kohler Co., bringing nearly 18 years of professional experience spanning human resources, consulting, pharmaceuticals, consumer products and technology.
Richa Malik joins Hero MotoCorp
Hero MotoCorp has appointed Richa Malik as Head HR – Corporate & Enabling Functions, strengthening its human resources leadership as the mobility company continues to focus on talent, organisational capability and employee experience.
Based in Gurugram, Malik has been in the role since August 2026 and will lead the HR agenda for Hero MotoCorp's corporate and enabling functions portfolio.
She joins Hero MotoCorp after more than five years at Kohler Co., where she most recently served as General Manager HR – K&B South Asia.
The appointment adds an HR professional with broad experience across talent management, HR business partnering, organisational development and people strategy to the company's leadership ecosystem.
Nearly 18 years of cross-sector experience
Richa Malik brings nearly 18 years of professional experience across human resources, consulting, pharmaceuticals, consumer products and technology.
Her career has combined specialist HR responsibilities with business-partnering and talent-management roles, giving her exposure to different industries, workforce structures and organisational challenges.
Over the years, her experience has covered areas including:
- HR business partnering
- Talent management
- Employee engagement
- Leadership development
- Organisational effectiveness
- People strategy
- Workforce planning
- Talent development
- Corporate HR
- Culture and capability building
This cross-sector experience will be relevant as she takes responsibility for HR across Hero MotoCorp's corporate and enabling functions.
Explore HR & People and Generalist Functions
More than five years at Kohler
Before joining Hero MotoCorp, Malik spent more than five years with Kohler Co.
She joined the organisation in 2021 as Lead – Talent Management & HR Business Partner and subsequently progressed through increasingly senior HR roles.
She later served as Deputy General Manager – HR before taking charge as General Manager HR – Kitchen & Bath South Asia.
Her progression at Kohler reflects experience across both talent-management and HR business-partnering responsibilities, combining employee and organisational priorities with broader business requirements.
Her final role at Kohler saw her leading HR responsibilities for the company's Kitchen & Bath business across South Asia.
Experience across Cipla, Yum! Brands, PwC and technology
Before Kohler, Malik spent around three-and-a-half years with pharmaceutical major Cipla, where she served in senior HR positions including Senior Manager – HR and Associate Director.
Her experience at Cipla added exposure to people management within a large, highly regulated and rapidly evolving industry.
Earlier in her career, Malik worked as Manager – HR at Yum! Brands – KFC India, adding consumer-sector experience to her HR portfolio.
She also worked with PwC in its Human Capital – Assurance function and spent several years with Cerebrus Consultants, building a foundation in HR consulting.
Malik began her professional career in the technology sector with IBM India, where she worked as an Associate System Engineer.
The range of industries she has worked across gives her a combination of consulting, technology and corporate HR experience as she takes on her new role at Hero MotoCorp.
Leading HR for corporate and enabling functions
As Head HR – Corporate & Enabling Functions, Malik will lead HR strategy and people practices supporting the company's corporate and enabling teams.
Such functions play an important role in supporting an organisation's wider business operations, encompassing areas that can include finance, technology, strategy, legal, procurement and other enterprise functions.
Her remit places her at the intersection of business strategy and people strategy, with HR leaders increasingly expected to support workforce capability, talent development, employee experience and organisational effectiveness.
Hero MotoCorp describes its culture as people-centric, performance-oriented and focused on learning, development, innovation and inclusion. The company also highlights employee development programmes, diversity and inclusion initiatives, wellbeing policies and rewards and recognition as part of its employee proposition.
Talent priorities in a changing mobility sector
The automotive and mobility ecosystem is undergoing rapid transformation as companies invest in electric mobility, digital technologies, connected vehicles, artificial intelligence and new business models.
These changes are also reshaping workforce requirements.
Automotive companies increasingly require talent spanning traditional engineering alongside software, data, digital, product, analytics and emerging-mobility capabilities.
For HR leaders, this means a growing focus on reskilling, internal mobility, leadership capability, talent attraction and creating organisational structures that can respond quickly to changing business needs.
Malik's appointment therefore comes at an important stage for the wider mobility sector, where people and capability strategies are becoming closely linked to business transformation.
People, culture and inclusion at Hero MotoCorp
Hero MotoCorp publicly identifies its people as one of the organisation's key strengths, with its culture centred around values including passion, courage, integrity, responsibility and respect.
The company also maintains dedicated programmes and policies around development, employee wellbeing, diversity and inclusion, and equal opportunity.
Its DE&I framework includes initiatives ranging from inclusive hiring to employee career growth and leadership accountability.
Hero MotoCorp Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
For an HR leader managing corporate and enabling functions, this creates a mandate that extends beyond traditional HR operations into areas such as culture, capability, employee engagement and organisational performance.
Hire Route Take
Richa Malik's appointment at Hero MotoCorp highlights the continued evolution of senior HR roles from administrative functions into strategic business partnerships.
As organisations transform their operating models, corporate HR leaders are increasingly responsible for aligning workforce capabilities with business priorities, building talent pipelines and strengthening employee experience.
Malik's combination of HR business partnering, talent management, consulting and cross-industry experience gives her a broad perspective for leading people strategy across Hero MotoCorp's corporate functions.
The appointment also reinforces a wider hiring trend: large enterprises are placing greater emphasis on HR professionals who can work across functions, understand business needs and translate organisational priorities into effective talent strategies.
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