VMPL
New Delhi [India], January 30: As Indian organizations rethink leadership for an era defined by disruption, complexity, and heightened expectations, SHRM India has released a comprehensive research report titled "The State of Executive Coaching in India 2025-26." The report offers a deep and timely view into how executive coaching is evolving into a strategic leadership and business capability across the country.
Drawing insights from business leaders, HR heads, and certified executive coaches across sectors, from Maharatna PSUs to fast-scaling startups, the report explores how coaching in India has moved beyond a discreet developmental intervention to become a critical lever for leadership transformation, cultural alignment, and organizational resilience. It examines how coaching programs are being designed, institutionalized, and governed as organizations prepare leaders for scale, uncertainty, and sustained performance.
At a time when leaders are navigating rapid technological shifts, hybrid and distributed workplaces, and rising stakeholder expectations, the study highlights a clear shift in intent and maturity. Coaching is no longer viewed as corrective or episodic. It is increasingly intentional, future-focused, and central to leadership strategy. Yet the research also surfaces a significant gap. While adoption has accelerated, measurement and ownership have not kept pace.
Sharing the India perspective, Achal Khanna, CEO, SHRM APAC & MENA, said,
"Indian organizations have undergone a profound leadership evolution, moving from control-driven models to those anchored in empathy, trust, and continuous learning. Executive coaching has quietly powered this shift. What this research reveals is both progress and potential. There is strong belief in coaching's value, alongside the need for sharper leadership ownership, sponsorship, and measurement. We once coached for performance. Today, we coach for possibility."
The report finds that while over 60 percent of organizations view coaching as a strategic intervention, only 6 percent track return on investment, despite widespread confidence in coaching's impact on leadership effectiveness and business outcomes. This disconnects points to the next phase of maturity for Indian organizations, where belief must translate into evidence and intent into measurable impact.
Reflecting on the research insights, Ashissh Kaul, Director, Knowledge and Advisory Services and Business Head, PSE, SHRM India, said, "India's leadership narrative is entering a defining phase. Executive coaching has emerged as a powerful driver of both performance and purpose. The question today is no longer whether coaching works. It is whether organizations are ready to align it meaningfully with business priorities and leadership accountability."
Adding to this, Amogh Deshmukh, Head, Leadership Practice, SHRM India, noted, "Our research shows that executive coaching in India is at a strategic inflection point. It is widely practiced and highly valued, but unevenly institutionalized. To unlock its full potential, coaching must move beyond HR ownership and become a shared leadership responsibility, supported by trust, governance, and clear metrics."
Key findings from the report include:
- 6 in 10 organizations have formalized executive coaching programs
- Over 80 percent of organizations prefer external coaches for senior leadership
- 91 percent of leaders believe transition coaching is critical, yet only 8 percent have institutionalized it
- Leadership sponsorship remains the single biggest multiplier of coaching success
"The State of Executive Coaching in India 2025-26" positions coaching as a cultural capability rather than a standalone intervention, one that strengthens leadership pipelines, builds organizational resilience, and aligns human growth with long-term business performance.
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