Birlasoft announces 3 leadership exits, appoints Arun Rao as CHRO and Vikram Puranik as COO

Birlasoft has announced a significant reshuffle in its senior leadership, with three top executives stepping down and two new appointments at the helm of its HR and operations functions.

The changes were approved at a board meeting held on March 30 and will come into effect from April 1, 2026, according to regulatory disclosures reviewed by ScanX.

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THREE SENIOR EXITS

The company confirmed the resignation of three senior leaders—Chief Human Resources Officer Priti Kataria, Chief Operating Officer Selvakumaran Mannappan, and CEO (Rest of the World) and Global Head of Strategic Growth Initiatives Manjunath Kygonahally.

All three exits are effective at the close of business on March 31, with the company citing personal reasons for the departures.

The simultaneous exit of leaders across HR, operations and global strategy marks a broad leadership reset, rather than a routine transition.

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NEW CHRO AND COO APPOINTED

To fill key gaps, Birlasoft has appointed Arun Rao as Chief Human Resources Officer and Vikram Puranik as Chief Operating Officer, both effective April 1.

Rao brings over three decades of experience in HR leadership, including talent management, organisational transformation and leadership development. He has been associated with the CKA Birla Group since 2020 and most recently served as group head for leadership development.

Notably, Rao has previously served as Chief People Officer at Birlasoft, giving him institutional familiarity alongside transformation experience.

Puranik, meanwhile, brings more than two decades of experience in global delivery and engineering operations. He joins from GlobalLogic, where he served as Senior Vice President – Engineering, overseeing large-scale delivery operations.

His earlier roles span leadership positions at Infostretch, GlobalLogic and Nitor Infotech, with a focus on execution across multi-country environments.

The timing and scale of the changes point to a strategic recalibration of Birlasoft’s leadership structure, particularly across people, operations and global growth functions.

For Birlasoft, the return of a former people leader alongside the appointment of a new operations head suggests a focus on execution discipline and organisational capability building.