Hyderabad: A new chapter in leadership consulting has begun with the launch of Aaroha, a humanistic leadership project that aims to transform Indian business leadership by integrating time-tested principles from Indian philosophy. Founded by former senior executives from Microsoft and UpGrad, Aaroha offers an innovative and culturally rooted alternative to conventional leadership models.
The firm’s three co-founders — Kalpana Sinha (ex-Microsoft, YSC Consulting), Haritha Kandalla (executive coach, former Microsoft), and Ketaki Kadekar (former Insights India Head at UpGrad) — bring over 70 years of combined experience in coaching, leadership capability development, and organizational transformation. Headquartered in Hyderabad, Aaroha is committed to helping businesses unlock leadership potential through a distinctly Indian lens.
Launching alongside the company is the India Business Leaders Survey 2025, which captures insights from CXOs across family-run and professionally managed firms—over half of which report revenues exceeding USD 1 billion. The survey reveals that talent acquisition and accountability are top business challenges, followed closely by retention, tech adoption, and building future-ready organizational cultures.
“Traditional leadership models tend to emphasize the individualistic leader, while Indian philosophy talks about a leader as someone who takes the collective along, and that is the need of the hour given the VUCA-BANI world we live in,” said Kalpana Sinha, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Aaroha. “Our approach redefines a leader to harness their natural strengths of adaptability and flexibility and also embrace an other-in approach towards leadership, which can enable organizations to create sustainable growth, retain key talent and foster innovation in increasingly complex business environments.”
At the heart of Aaroha’s philosophy is the belief that organizations thrive when they create cultures of trust, adaptability, and continuous learning. Its proprietary frameworks draw from Indian philosophical traditions, advocating for intergenerational collaboration, authentic decision-making, and whole-self leadership at all levels of the organization.
Aaroha’s offerings include:
- Leadership assessment and coaching
- Capability development workshops
- Organizational culture transformation
- Custom consulting solutions blending Indian wisdom with modern business strategy
By offering a human-centric, values-driven approach, Aaroha positions itself as a strategic partner for Indian companies aiming to build resilient, future-ready teams. The firm’s mission is not only to support leaders in navigating complexity, but to reshape how leadership itself is defined in the Indian business context.
