People Move · September 2026

HONO appoints Ritu Sinha as Chief Human Resource Officer.

Ritu Sinha joins HR technology company HONO as CHRO, bringing more than two decades of HR leadership experience across flynas, Akasa Air, Vistara, IndiGo and Reliance Industries.

HR technology company HONO has appointed Ritu Sinha as Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO) as it strengthens its leadership, culture and employee experience agenda amid continued international expansion.

In her new role, Sinha will help shape HONO’s people strategy as the company expands across markets and builds organisational capabilities to support its next phase of growth.

Sinha brings more than 20 years of human resources experience, with expertise across organisational scaling, culture building, employee engagement, HR business partnering, talent management, performance, diversity and inclusion, leadership development and HR transformation.

The appointment and mandate

The appointment places Sinha at the intersection of people, culture, technology and organisational growth. HONO currently says its technology is used by more than 300 global enterprises, 1.8 million-plus users and organisations across more than 50 countries.

As HONO scales internationally, maintaining a consistent organisational culture while adapting to different workforce environments will become an increasingly important part of its people strategy.

Ritu Sinha joins HONO after flynas

Before joining HONO as CHRO, Sinha served as Head – People Culture & Engagement at flynas, where she worked with a multicultural workforce of more than 3,500 employees.

Her responsibilities included building the airline’s culture and engagement function, developing its governance framework and roadmap, strengthening employee listening mechanisms and supporting leadership development and employer-brand initiatives.

That international and multicultural experience is particularly relevant to her new mandate at HONO, which is expanding its HR technology footprint across multiple regions.

A founding HR leader at Akasa Air

One of the defining chapters of Sinha’s career was her tenure as Head of Human Resources at Akasa Air. She joined the airline as a founding HR leader and helped build its people function as Akasa expanded from approximately 100 employees to more than 4,000.

Her role covered workforce planning, organisation design, performance management, diversity and inclusion, HR technology, analytics, compliance, benefits and change management.

HONO highlights this experience in Sinha’s leadership profile, noting her role in building HR functions from the ground up while helping Akasa Air scale rapidly. For a growing technology business, that ability to build people systems during expansion can be especially valuable.

Nearly six years with Vistara and nine years with IndiGo

Before Akasa Air, Sinha spent close to six years with Vistara – TATA SIA Airlines, progressing through senior HR responsibilities to become Assistant Vice President – Human Resources. She joined Vistara in April 2016 as Deputy General Manager – HR and remained with the airline until January 2022.

Earlier, Sinha spent approximately nine years with IndiGo, taking on responsibilities spanning HR business partnering, employee engagement, talent, performance and rewards. She began her corporate HR career with Reliance Industries as Assistant Manager – HR.

Her long association with aviation spans IndiGo, Vistara, Akasa Air and flynas, giving her experience across established airlines, new-age carriers and international workforces.

From aviation HR to an HR technology company

Sinha’s move to HONO is notable because she is transitioning from organisations that consume HR systems and processes to a company that develops technology specifically for the HR function.

Founded in Gurugram in 2016, HONO has expanded from an HRMS platform into an AI-led enterprise HR technology business with capabilities spanning India, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the United States.

HONO has positioned agentic AI, multi-country payroll and conversational HR technology as major elements of its enterprise offering. Its Headless Zero-UI HRMS announcement describes the company’s direction beyond traditional software menus.

As an HR technology company sells solutions around employee experience and workforce management, its own internal employee experience and organisational culture become closely connected to its broader product and employer credibility.

HONO puts culture at the centre of its next growth phase

HONO has said its ambition is not limited to building the future of HR technology; the company also wants to create an organisation that reflects the principles it advocates to customers.

The company’s stated priorities include strong leadership, meaningful employee experiences, an inclusive culture and an environment where people can perform at their best. Sinha’s experience across culture, employee engagement, HR business partnering and organisational scaling appears closely aligned with that agenda.

HONO’s official leadership page provides further context on the company and its people strategy.

HR leadership in an AI-driven workplace

Generative and agentic AI are moving beyond employee chatbots into workforce analytics, workflow automation, payroll, employee queries, manager support and people decision-making.

This evolution changes the responsibilities of the CHRO. For HR technology businesses, people leaders increasingly have to balance recruitment, retention and leadership development with questions around AI adoption, workforce readiness, digital trust, skills transformation and how technology changes the employee experience.

Sinha’s appointment places her directly at this intersection of people, culture, technology and organisational growth.

Ritu Sinha’s education and HR background

Sinha is an alumna of the Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development (SCMHRD), where she completed her MBA with a specialisation in Human Resources in 2005.

Her career progression can broadly be traced across: Reliance Industries → IndiGo → Vistara → Akasa Air → flynas → HONO. The progression gives Sinha experience spanning large corporates, established airlines, startup-scale organisations and international workforces.

SCMHRD’s alumni profile provides additional context on her earlier career and education.

HireRoute Take

Ritu Sinha’s appointment as CHRO of HONO brings together two important shifts in the world of work: the growing strategic role of the CHRO and the rapid transformation of HR through AI.

Her experience building Akasa Air’s people function during expansion from roughly 100 to more than 4,000 employees is especially relevant for a technology organisation pursuing international growth.

The move from aviation into HR technology is equally significant. Sinha has spent much of her career implementing people strategies in complex operational environments. At HONO, she now joins a company developing the technology that other HR teams use to manage many of those same workforce challenges.

For context on CHROs connecting talent strategy with technology transformation, strategic CHRO appointments and senior HR leadership moves, explore more stories from the Hire Route Newsroom.