Airtel appoints Akanksha Kanojia as Head of Talent, Culture and DEI

Bharti Airtel has appointed Akanksha Kanojia as Head – Talent, Culture & DEI, strengthening its senior HR leadership as the telecom major continues to scale operations and navigate organisational transformation.

Kanoj ia will be based in Gurugram and will oversee Airtel’s group-wide agenda on leadership development, organisational culture and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), the company said.

An Airtel veteran with over 13 years at the organisation, Kanojia brings deep institutional knowledge and experience across multiple people leadership roles. Most recently, she served as Head HR – DTH and Customer Experience, where she worked closely with business leaders on workforce effectiveness, employee engagement and operational execution across customer-facing functions, Airtel said.

Her earlier roles at the company include HR Head – Organisation Productivity & Transformation, Circle HR Head, and HR Business Partner for Sales & Distribution. In these positions, she was involved in large-scale people transformations, frontline workforce management and business-aligned HR strategy, with a focus on productivity, change management and leadership capability building.

In her new role, Kanojia will lead Airtel’s Talent, Culture and DEI agenda, with a mandate to strengthen leadership pipelines, foster a high-performance and inclusive culture, and embed DEI more deeply into the company’s long-term growth strategy.

The appointment comes as Airtel continues to invest in organisational capability alongside network expansion, digital services and customer experience. By elevating an internal leader with cross-business exposure, the company is signalling continuity in its people strategy while aligning it more closely with its next phase of growth.