Nikhil Nanda was born on 18 March 1974^[3] in New Delhi, Delhi, India to a Punjabi Hindu family. His father, Rajan Nanda from Fazilka, was an industrialist and the chairman and managing director of Escorts Group. At the same time, his mother, Ritu Nanda,^[4] worked as an insurance agent for Life Insurance Corporation of India. His maternal grandfather was actor-director Raj Kapoor and his great-grandfather, Prithviraj Kapoor, was an actor. Actors Rishi Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor and Rajiv Kapoor are his maternal uncles, while actresses Neetu Singh and Babita are his aunts by marriage. Actors Karisma Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Armaan Jain and Aadar Jain are his maternal first cousins.^[5][6]

He is an alumnus of The Doon School in Dehradun, India. After completing his schooling, he studied business management from Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, United States, where he majored in finance and marketing.^[7][8]

Nikhil Nanda joined Escorts Limited in 1997, initially served as its Director and group Chief Operating Officer (COO). As the COO, he successfully drove the expansion programmes of Escorts Limited in the field of construction equipment business through its subsidiary Escorts Construction Equipment Limited, which further merged into Escorts Limited in 2012.

He was elevated as the Joint Managing Director of the group in 2007, and later as the Managing Director in 2013. He played a critical role in restructuring and professionalising the business, including appointment of high calibre professionals in leadership roles, strategic disinvestments and business consolidation, and investments in new technologies for product development. Under his leadership, the company successfully launched the Farmtrac premium tractor series in 2014, opening up a new market for the group. It also unveiled India’s first-ever electric concept tractor in 2017, automated concept tractor in 2018 and hybrid concept tractor in 2019.

He took over as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the group in August 2018, after the demise of his father Rajan Nanda. His leadership led to global expansion and profitable growth for the group, reaching the INR 10,000 crore valuation mark by 2020.

He led Escorts Limited into a collaboration with Kubota Corporation, Japan in 2021, with Kubota significantly raising its equity stake in the group. The group was eventually renamed as Escorts Kubota Limited in 2022. The collaboration with Kubota Corporation was a step to fully institutionalise Escorts Limited, including to upgrade plants, launch new products, set-up a world class R&D centre, with an objective to create a powerful entity in the farm solutions space in India and globally.

To leverage his vast experience and business acumen, Nikhil Nanda was further appointed as the Senior Managing Executive Officer of Kubota Corporation, General Manager of Value Innovative Farm and Industrial Machinery Strategy & Operations of Kubota Corporation.

Nanda married Shweta Bachchan, daughter of film actors Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan, on 16 February 1997.^[9] They have two children.^[10]

In 2001, Nikhil Nanda was selected as one of the Global Leaders of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum, Geneva. He was one of the select business leaders appointed by the Government of India to represent the country at the Indo-Spain CEOs Forum in 2017. He was honoured as the ‘Best CEO-Auto & Auto Ancillaries’ by Business Today for the period 2019-2020, in recognition of his remarkable turnaround and stellar growth of the group.

He is a member of several industry bodies such as the CII National Council, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Young President’s Organization (YPO). He is one of the select business leaders appointed by the Government of India to represent the country at the Indo-Spain CEOs Forum in 2017.