Ashish Narain has been appointed Vice President & Head of Talent Acquisition – Manufacturing, Research & Technology at Reliance Industries. With over 21 years across HR, rewards, industrial relations, mobility and leadership roles, his diverse experience across refining, petrochemicals, polyester, R&D and manufacturing positions him to shape transformative talent strategies for the company’s core businesses.
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), India’s largest conglomerate spanning energy, petrochemicals, retail, digital services and new energy, has further strengthened its leadership bench with the appointment of Ashish Narain as Vice President & Head, Talent Acquisition – Manufacturing, Research & Technology. The move marks a significant internal elevation for a leader who has spent more than two decades shaping talent strategy, organizational capability and workforce transformation across some of the company’s most complex and high-impact verticals. For Reliance, which continues to expand its manufacturing scale, build research capacity and invest heavily in technology-driven growth, Narain’s appointment represents a strategic step toward integrating talent development with the company’s next phase of industrial and innovation-led expansion.
Narain brings with him 21 years of experience across diverse leadership functions within Reliance, a chronology that reflects the group’s tradition of growing leaders from within its vast organizational ecosystem. His journey at RIL demonstrates a rare blend of operational grounding and human capital expertise. Beginning his career as a Maintenance Manager across Gujarat and Maharashtra, Narain built his early professional identity in the field—working closely with manufacturing teams, engineering operations and reliability systems. This technical foundation would later become a defining advantage as he transitioned into broader HR and leadership roles, allowing him to connect talent strategy directly to on-ground manufacturing realities, plant requirements and the specialized skills necessary to sustain world-scale operations.
Over the years, Narain has held several key positions with increasing responsibility, shaping strategy across business segments such as Refining, Petrochemicals, Polyester, R&D and Technology. Among his earlier leadership assignments was his role as Head HR, IR & Admin for the Barabanki Manufacturing Division, where he oversaw industrial relations, workforce engagement and administrative frameworks essential for operational continuity. He later served as Head of HR for the Hoshiarpur Manufacturing Division, further deepening his experience in managing large-scale plant ecosystems and aligning HR architecture with production demands, safety standards and skill development mandates.
One of Narain’s notable contributions came during his tenure as Vice President Human Resources in the CHRO’s Office at Reliance, a position that positioned him at the intersection of group-wide HR strategy, leadership development, and enterprise-wide transformation. In this role, he collaborated closely with senior leadership and HR centres of excellence to refine and execute frameworks intended to support the company’s rapid diversification into new sectors. He also played a crucial role in integrating HR systems across emerging business lines, ensuring consistency in capability building, performance management and workforce planning, even as the conglomerate expanded in scale and complexity.
Narain’s expertise is not limited to HR generalist responsibilities. His track record includes deep specialization in rewards management, talent strategy and mobility programs—critical pillars for a company that employs thousands of highly skilled engineers, scientists, research professionals and manufacturing specialists. As Vice President and Head Rewards – Hydrocarbons, Narain designed and led compensation strategies tailored for the demanding talent landscape of refining and petrochemicals, industries that rely heavily on advanced technical skills and leadership continuity. His leadership in global mobility and expatriate compensation helped streamline processes for international project deployments, cross-border assignments and leadership rotations, ensuring that Reliance remained competitive in attracting and retaining global talent pools.
In addition to his work in core manufacturing-related HR roles, Narain has also overseen Organizational Development within Retail IT, reflecting the breadth of his cross-functional acumen. This particular role placed him at the convergence of technology, retail innovation and digital transformation—spaces where Reliance has been rapidly scaling. His contributions in this sphere helped strengthen organizational design, talent readiness and leadership pipelines for technology-driven businesses, complementing his strong foundation in industrial HR.
Before assuming his current role, Narain served as Head Talent Acquisition for Reliability, Engineering & Maintenance within Group Manufacturing, leading hiring strategy for a critical capability cluster that underpins the company’s manufacturing excellence. Reliability and maintenance functions are central to operational efficiency and safety in large-scale industrial environments, and Narain’s stewardship in this area enabled the company to build robust pipelines for engineers, technical experts and leadership roles essential to sustaining world-class manufacturing standards.
Now, as the new Vice President & Head, Talent Acquisition – Manufacturing, Research & Technology, Narain steps into a role that sits at the heart of Reliance’s future readiness. The conglomerate is building deep capabilities in technology research, new materials, digital engineering, renewable energy and advanced manufacturing. The expansion of its R&D footprint—through institutions such as the Reliance Technology Group—and its growing focus on innovation-led business verticals have created a rising demand for specialized talent across disciplines including chemical engineering, advanced materials, biotechnology, instrumentation, data science, AI-driven manufacturing, process safety, energy systems and sustainability.
Narain will now oversee the strategy and execution of talent acquisition for these mission-critical sectors, ensuring that Reliance continues to attract top-tier technical talent capable of driving innovation and operational excellence. His mandate includes shaping the workforce required to support emerging green energy ambitions, strengthening research-led talent pools, building specialized expertise for digital manufacturing technologies, and supporting the company’s long-term vision to become a global industrial and technology powerhouse.
His operational origins give him a nuanced understanding of the challenges that manufacturing and research teams navigate daily—ranging from skill shortages and evolving competency frameworks to safety culture, performance expectations and the need for continuous upskilling. As Reliance accelerates investments in New Energy, circular materials, sustainable manufacturing practices and advanced research infrastructure, Narain’s ability to align talent strategy with evolving business imperatives will be crucial.
Within Reliance’s broader growth narrative, the appointment underscores the company’s emphasis on people-centric transformation alongside technological and industrial expansion. As the conglomerate integrates advanced engineering, digital capabilities and renewable technologies into its manufacturing framework, leadership roles such as Narain’s help ensure that talent becomes a strategic driver, not just a support function.
His internal progression also sends a powerful message about Reliance’s culture of developing leaders through deep exposure across business verticals, geographies and centres of excellence. By appointing someone with a two-decade-long trajectory inside the company, RIL reinforces the importance of institutional knowledge, cross-functional experience and long-term strategic alignment.
As Reliance steps further into a future defined by manufacturing sophistication, research advancement and technology leadership, Ashish Narain’s new role positions him as a key architect of the human capital engine that will support this ambitious transformation. His broad experience across industrial HR, rewards strategy, global mobility, organizational development and technical operations provides a comprehensive foundation for shaping a talent ecosystem capable of powering Reliance’s next decade of innovation and growth.
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