NILESH S. DANGE
Human Resources Professional
Mumbai
Summary
Board-level HR leader with 28+ years of experience across BFSI and diversified conglomerates. Currently serving as CHRO at L&T Finance, leading enterprise-wide people, culture, and capability transformation for a 35,000+ employee organisation. Recognised for translating business strategy into scalable people outcomes across productivity, engagement, leadership depth, digital HR, DEI, and governance. Trusted advisor to Boards, MD & CEO, and senior leadership teams.
Overview
25
25
years of professional experience
4
4
Certifications
Work History
Chief Human Resources Officer
L&T Finance
10.2020 - Current
- Strategic Contributions:
- Partner to Board, MD & CEO on enterprise strategy, organisation effectiveness and leadership succession
- Led workforce and organisation redesign aligned to retailisation and digital-first strategy
- Built future-ready leadership through competency frameworks, 270-degree feedback and leadership forums
- Drove HR digital transformation leveraging analytics for decision-making and productivity
- Anchored DEI, wellbeing and engagement strategy for frontline-heavy workforce
- Instituted strong governance across rewards, ESOPs, compliance and policy frameworks
- Built high-trust culture through recognition platforms, engagement rituals and employee listening systems
- Facilities & Channel Management (FCM) – Strategic Accountability
- Held additional enterprise-wide responsibility for Facilities & Channel Management (FCM) covering 2,000+ branches, offices, training centres and meeting locations across India
- Owned FCM budgets of ~₹150 Cr (excluding Gold Loan CAPEX/OPEX), spanning infrastructure expansion, optimisation and ESG investments
- Repositioned FCM as a strategic growth enabler for the Gold Loan business; enabled rapid expansion of 200+ branches
- Delivered ~50% reduction in branch go-live TAT with aggressive execution cadence of ‘one branch per day’
- Led cost optimisation initiatives delivering multi-crore savings through online bidding, single invoicing, vendor consolidation and contract renegotiations
- Implemented Command Centre, BMS integration and strengthened insurance governance (Cyber, D&O, Crime, Fire), creating recurring annual savings
- Anchored ESG-led infrastructure initiatives including EV charging, renewable energy adoption, waste management, PWD facilitation and ISO 41001 / ISO 45001 alignment
- Optimised workplace efficiency and employee experience through training infrastructure consolidation, auditorium utilisation, service apartment tie-ups and travel/event cost rationalisation
- Led metro back-office relocation strategy to reduce real estate costs while ensuring business continuity
- L&T Finance is a leading upper-layer NBFC with a pan-India retail footprint.
Joint General Manager – HR
Larsen & Toubro Ltd. – Heavy Engineering & Defence
01.2004 - 09.2020
- Strategic Contributions:
- Progressive growth from Senior Executive to JGM-HR across complex, unionised environments
- Led SAP-HR implementation for 25,000+ employees across multiple businesses
- Partnered with McKinsey on leadership development and succession planning initiatives
- Drove organisation restructuring, delayering and manpower productivity improvements
- Led global talent acquisition, expat HR governance and international compliance
- Anchored engagement (Gallup, GPTW), safety-linked rewards and HR excellence models
- Expanded Strategic Impact:
- Senior HR leader for complex, capital-intensive and unionised manufacturing and defence businesses
- Partnered with business CEOs on organisation design, capability building and leadership pipelines for critical projects
- Led large-scale restructuring, delayering and span-of-control optimisation to improve execution speed and productivity
- Built leadership succession frameworks for critical roles in Defence manufacturing and project businesses
- Anchored digital HR initiatives including SAP-HR, PMS digitisation and HR Chatbot deployment
- Drove engagement, safety culture and behavioural safety initiatives in high-risk industrial environments
- Led global mobility, expat governance and international labour compliance across overseas project sites
- Played a key role in post-labour unrest stabilisation and rebuilding trust at strategic units
Deputy Manager – Corporate HR
H&R Johnson (India) Ltd.
06.2001 - 01.2004
- Strategic Initiatives & Impact:
- Led organisation-wide HR policy standardisation during a phase of growth and professionalisation
- Designed and implemented structured terms of employment including IPR and IT misuse governance
- Anchored first HR MIS and productivity analytics to support leadership decision-making
- Played a core role in SAP-HR implementation at corporate and plant levels
- Facilitated the organisation’s first employee engagement survey (with Hewitt Associates), which directly contributed to defining the Company’s Core Values and Vision
- Implemented employee insurance and welfare frameworks, significantly improving claim turnaround time
- Conducted the first legal and HR policy audit, strengthening compliance and governance
Education
PGCHRM -
XLRI Jamshedpur
Masters in Personnel Management - undefined
Pune University
Skills
HR transformation initiatives
Strategic board consultation
Organisation Design & Change
Leadership & Succession Planning
HR policies and procedures
Recruitment strategies
HR analytics
HR technology
Talent management
Compliance management
Diversity and inclusion
Organizational culture
Certification
Certified SAP HR Functional Consultant – SAP Germany
AWARDS & THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Diamond Award – LearnX Live (DEI Talent Management), Most Preferred Workplace – BFSI Segment, Distinguished Speaker – People Matters, ET HR World EX Summit, Published thought leadership in HR Katha and industry platforms
ENTERPRISE TRANSFORMATION HIGHLIGHTS
- Additional Strategic Initiatives as CHRO:
- Strategic M&A and divestment support – Partnered with Board, MD & CEO on strategic sale, business exits and M&A-related people, culture, leadership continuity and change management aspects, ensuring value protection and transition stability
- Enterprise-wide cultural transformation – Led a multi-year cultural transformation journey anchored on articulated people philosophy, leadership role-modelling, engagement rituals and behaviour-led change embedded across the organisation
- AI democratisation and future-readiness – Championed enterprise-wide AI democratisation by enabling access, capability building and responsible adoption of GenAI tools, driving productivity, decision support and digital confidence across levels
- Labour compliance and governance robustness – Strengthened labour law compliance, statutory governance and regulatory adherence across pan-India operations, ensuring zero tolerance on compliance risk and sustained industrial harmony
- Led end-to-end HR transformation for a 35,000+ workforce across pan-India operations
- Digitised 50+ HR processes across employee lifecycle, payroll, policy, L&D and engagement
- Reduced overall attrition from 28% (FY23) to 22% (FY25); key talent retention at 90%
- Improved GPTW score from 82 to 84; participation increased from 73% to 89%
- Institutionalised CURVE people philosophy and enterprise-wide competency framework
- Scaled learning to 40+ hours per employee per year, exceeding ESG targets
- Improved gender diversity from 3.6% (FY23) to 6.1% (FY26 YTD)
- Designed and governed CXO deferred pay, ESOP and compensation frameworks
- Led crisis and pandemic response including 100% vaccination of 24,000 employees in one month
Timeline
Chief Human Resources Officer
L&T Finance
10.2020 - Current
Joint General Manager – HR
Larsen & Toubro Ltd. – Heavy Engineering & Defence
01.2004 - 09.2020
Deputy Manager – Corporate HR
H&R Johnson (India) Ltd.
06.2001 - 01.2004
Masters in Personnel Management - undefined
Pune University
PGCHRM -
XLRI Jamshedpur