LONDON: ElevenLabs, the AI voice and audio infrastructure company, has appointed Nihal Chauhan to lead public sector partnerships and policy across Asia Pacific — a hire that signals the firm’s growing ambitions well beyond the commercial market and deep into the corridors of government.
Chauhan arrives with 17 years of experience straddling geopolitics, technology and public policy. Most recently, he led Google’s policy partnerships in India, managing government relationships across digital economy policy and AI. Before that, he served in the Chairman’s office at Tata Sons and as chief of staff to S. Jaishankar, then group president of Tata’s global corporate affairs function and now India’s minister of external affairs. He is a non-resident fellow at ORF America, a member of the Trilateral Commission, and sits on the board of the Global Access to Talent from India Foundation.
In his new role, Chauhan will lead engagement with governments, policymakers, academic institutions and strategic partners across the region, supporting ElevenLabs’ long-term policy and public sector agenda in key markets.
His pitch is straightforward and hard to argue with. “Across Asia Pacific, millions of people are coming online and interacting with technology — and for many, voice will be how they first reach government services, education, and healthcare,” he said. “I’m excited to partner with governments and institutions across the region to make the adoption of these technologies practical, responsible, and genuinely inclusive — particularly in markets where language and accessibility are central to digital participation.”
The appointment builds on ElevenLabs’ expanding footprint across the region. Earlier this year, the company extended its Impact Programme into India, giving nonprofits, educators and frontline institutions access to multilingual voice AI tools. Its India commercial roster already includes Cars24, Meesho, TVS Motor, Mahindra, JioStar, Urban Company, Eternal, PocketFM and 99acres, primarily across conversational AI and customer engagement.
Asia Pacific, with its staggering linguistic diversity, mobile-first economies and rapidly growing investment in AI-enabled public services, is precisely the kind of market where voice technology could leapfrog text as the primary interface between citizen and state.
ElevenLabs has found exactly the right person to make that case to the people who matter. Now it has to deliver.
