In recent times, the role of a CFO in an organisation has undergone vast changes. A CFO is not only just a financial authority but a strategic partner to the CEO, supporting in the crucial decision-making and application of strategic methods in the company. Besides making responsible decisions about investment, CFOs today are expected to remain updated with the latest technologies. At present, Indian companies are gearing up for global competition and their outlook is extremely futuristic. With this outlook in hand, the role of CFOs is even more significant. India is one of the best countries in Asia in terms of its Geography, culture, and heritage. In the business sector, it has improved significantly over time. Listed down are the top 10 CFOs in India based on their performance, credibility, and talent.
1)Alok Agarwal
Mr Alok Kumar Agarwal serves as Chief Financial Officer of Reliance. Mr. Alok Kumar Agarwal heads the Wholesale Group at the Company which includes the corporate and financial inclusion business. Mr. Alok Kumar Agarwal started his career in 1989 with Reliance Industries Ltd. as an Engineer. He later worked with ICICI Ltd. for 9 years in project finance department before shifting to ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Limited. Currently in Reliance, he focuses on global risk management projects besides handling finance related projects. Mr Agarwal has done his B.Tech in Electronic Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and His MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. With a rich experience in the field, Mr Agarwal is definitely an extremely efficient officer and one of the best in the country.
2)Samir Seksaria
Mr Samir Seksaria, is the Chief financial officer of Tata Consultancy Services.
He has an experience in the IT industry of nearly two decades and he has taken significant financial decisions in the company, TCS. Before this, he was in charge of the Business Finance function for TCS, where was responsible for the financial management of the company’s individual operating units and was also responsible for the corporate financial analytics and planning of the company.Samir began his career in TCS in the year 1999 and spent his initial years in consulting assignments involving regulatory compliance, M&A spin offs, amongst others. In his earlier responsibilities, he has played a key role in the Initial Public Offering of TCS in 2004 and subsequently in various other financial transformation journeys such as simplification, straight through processes, early closures, and improved cash management. Mr Seksaria is an NMIMS, Mumbai graduate and he also finished his Chartered Accountancy from ICAI, Mumbai. Samir takes pride in having learnt from premiere TCS leaders including N Chandrasekaran, Rajesh Gopinathan, V Ramakrishnan and S Mahalingam. Mr Seksaria is an extremely loving and caring family man. When not working, he often travels with his family.
3) C.S Muralidharan
Mr C.S Muralidharan is the chief financial officer of Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries pvt ltd. Mr Muralidharan is well-known for his excellent service in providing operational and financial leadership. After finishing his higher secondary in Commerce at DTEA Secondary School, he graduated from ICAI. He also attended an executive development program from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Mr Muralidharan expertises in Global Compliance, Capital restructuring and merging and acquisitions. After remaining the country head of the company named Allergan in Mumbai for nearly nine years, he joined Teva Pharmaceuticals where he remained the Group chief financial officer for a year. After that, he joined Sun Pharma in the year 2017, and is still the group chief financial officer there.
4)Nilanjan Roy (Infosys)
Nilanjan Roy is currently the Chief Financial Officer. Before this, he was the Global Chief Financial Officer of Bharti Airtel Ltd. and was responsible for the financial operations across India and Africa. He has held different leadership positions at Bharti Airtel for the last thirteen years. Before this, he worked with Unilever for nearly 15 years in their global operations across India, Europe, and the US. Mr Roy is undoubtedly an established financial officer, who has extensive and rich global experience including shareholder value creation, ESG and corporate governance, business partnering, mergers and acquisitions, treasury and funding, investor relations, cost management, taxation, financial accounting and reporting. Nilanjan Roy is a student of Commerce from Delhi University, and he also is a chartered accountant. He has extensive and rich Global experience and has an amazing record in work. As the CFO at Infosys, Roy’s total compensation is approximately $53,600,000. There are only three executives in the company who get paid more than him.
5)Ritesh Tiwari (Hindustan Unilever)
Mr. Ritesh Tiwari is the Executive Director, Finance & IT, and Chief Financial Officer of Hindustan Unilever Limited. He is also the Vice President, Finance for Unilever, South Asia. At present, Mr. Tiwari is the VP of Finance – Global Performance management. He’s based out of the UK. He finished his Chart Accountancy from ICAI, and thereafter joined HUL in the year 1999 as a management trainee. Sanjeev Mehta, the Chief managing director of HUL said that Tiwari’s purpose-driven leadership has taken HUL’s business to new heights. Some significant implications by Tiwari such as GST and GSK consumer healthcare have brought transformational changes in the company’s business, he added. For the past two decades, he has led teams both within and outside India at Unilever in the core finance sector and as a business partner to front-end sales, categories and supply chain. His most recent and commendable role has been in the UK as the Vice President, Finance, Global Performance Management for Unilever and CFO for Unilever International, where he is credited with bringing digital transformation, simplification and leading projects with high business impact. Despite the attack of the second wave of Covid, HUL reported profit growth of 12% and underlying growth of 9% in the first quarter of the Financial Year 2022.
6) Parag Parekh
Mr Parag Parekh is the Chief Financial officer of Adani gas. He has been responsible for Business Development, Strategy, Bidding, Project Finance, Corporate Finance,Public & Private Equity, IPO, Investor Relations, Head of Roads Business, Operations to interim Chief Executive Officer over the years. He did his Bachelors in commerce from University of Mumbai and then went on to pursue his MBA from MET League of Colleges, Mumbai. Mr Parekh is extremely skilled at handling project finance, infrastructure and restructuring. Before joining Adani Gas, he remained the group head of finance at GMR Group, Mumbai. He has been the chief financial officer at Adani Gas since 2019.
7) Shobinder Duggal
Mr Shobinder Duggal is the Director of Finance and Control and the CFO of Nestle, India. He has a working experience of nearly 35 years with Nestle, both in India and Switzerland. Before becoming the CFO and a board member of Nestle in 2004, he handled various corporate responsibilities such as VP corporate control, heading the internal audit, consolidation & Reporting to the Group and for India entity handling important assignments at the Nestle group headquarters in Switzerland, Assisting on Investor Relations; Insurance; Controlling; Costing; Overseeing the Treasury function; Payroll; Fixed Assets Management; Operational & Financial audits. Between May 2004 and February 2020, he was the CFO of the South Asian region of Nestle and has also handled various IS and IT responsibilities. Mr Duggal is the Chairman of the Risk Management Committee and also member of the Stakeholders Relationship Committee of Nestlé India Limited. Besides, he is also on the Board of Nestlé Lanka PLC since January 2014. He is a student of Economics from St Stephen’s College, University of Delhi and a student of ICAI, Mumbai. He also attended a programme for Executive Development from IMD Lausanne, Switzerland. Other than that, he has also been a part of several international courses from Nestle training Centre, Lausanne and Switzerland and London Business School, UK. He really is one of the best we have in the industry.
8) Manish Saxena
Mr Manish Saxena is the current CFO of Adani Group’s India Mining Business. He is a highly qualified Chartered accountant having an experience of close to thirty years. He has attended various leadership and focused training programs in the fields Risk Management, Coaching, Analytical Skills, Train the Trainer on ISO 9000 Certification and Economic Value Add. Business World and YES Bank had recognized him with the “Most Promising CFO” award in 2016. He has an experience in the manufacturing and service sector in various large companies in India like ICI India Limited, Bharti Airtel, Ballarpur Industries Limited, Reliance Communications and even abroad.He is an extremely skilled professional with a perfect balance of strategic and operational skills. He has come across various types of crisis in his professional journey that is really inspirational and quite commendable.
9) Soumen Ray
Soumen Ray is the new CFO of Bharti Airtel. He is an extremely efficient Chartered Accountant with an experience of more than twenty three years in in financial planning, management accounting, factory commercial, treasury and corporate accounts. Before joining Bharti Airtel, he was the CFO of Bajaj Auto Ltd. He has been associated with the company since 2018, and has worked in the taxation, finance and treasury sectors. He has also worked for Viacom, Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Eveready Industries and Airtel etc where he has held senior positions. Gopal Vittal, the CEO of Bharti Airtel said that “He brings in the right mix of domain expertise, commercial acumen, strategy and business partnering,”
10) Jaimin Bhatt
Jaimin Bhatt is the Chief financial officer as well as the president of Kotak Mahindra Bank. He is the head of the Centre division as well as the Support Division at Kotak Mahindra Bank. His work involves finance, tax, strategy, secretarial, Internal Audit, Management Accounts, legal and compliance. Mr Bhatt joined Kotak Mahindra finance in the year 1995 in the proprietary investment section.
11. Koushik Chatterjee
Mr Koushik chatterjee is the Chief financial Officer, executive officer and Board member at Tata Steel. His skills include application and of effective business strategies, business development and planning. He has volunteer at various esteemed places such as International Integrated Reporting Council, International Accounting Standard Board and TCFD.
12. – R&J Jeyamurugan
Mr Jeyamurugan is currently the Chief financial officer and secretary at Asian paints Ltd. He was previously the Vice President of the company. He is an associate Member at The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and Associate Member at Institute of Company Secretaries of India. He played a significant role in Asian paints during the GST protocol, making sure that the company is ready for GST. He is an extremely efficient person, truly an asset for any company.
13. Ramakant Baheti
Ramakant Baheti is the Chief Financial officer of Avenue Supermarts. He is a graduate from ICAI-Institute of Chartered Accountants in India. His skills include management, team management, forecasting, budgets, management, budgets, strategic planning, financial analysis and retail. He has been the CFO of Avenue Supermarts since 2000.
14. S.Srinivasan
S.Srinivasan has been the CFO of Bajaj Finserv since September 2011. His tasks include overseeing the insurance business, having interactions with management on strategic and government issues, annual operating plans and long-range planning, insurance operation result reviews, managing Bajaj Allianz Financial Distributors Limited operations, maintaining investor relations and being a member of the Investment Committee and Risk Committee.
15. Supratim Dutta
Supratim Dutta is the Chief Financial Officer of the Company with effect from 5th September, 2020. Before this, he held the position of Corporate Financial Controller of the Company responsible for Accounts, Taxation and finance operations and prior to that, he was Executive Vice President – Corporate Finance in charge of the Corporate Treasury, Strategic Planning and Corporate Planning functions of the Company.
Dutta joined the Company in November 1990 soon after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant and Cost Accountant. He has wide ranging experience in the Company for nearly 30 years, spanning various senior roles in business finance operations and corporate. He has handled all aspects of finance including Planning, Treasury, M&A, Accounting, Taxation, IT, Investor Relations and business strategy. He has also held important positions in various industry bodies including Chairperson – Finance and Banking Committee of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
16. S.N Subramanyam
S N Subrahmanyan is the CEO & MD of Larsen & Toubro and serves on the board of directors of this multi billion dollar conglomerate.SNS, as he is popularly known, is also Vice Chairman on the boards of LTI, L&T Technology Services & Mindtree, Chairman of L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Limited, and Director and Chairperson of L&T Finance Holdings Ltd. Prior to taking over the reins as CEO & MD in July 2017, SNS in his capacity as Deputy MD & President led L&T’s infrastructure business to its position as the country’s largest construction organisation and 14th in the world. He is now responsible for leading the breadth and width of L&T’s considerable business interests to new growth levels, riding on the enormous benefits of digitalisation, big data, and predictive analysis that he drives internally with exceptional zeal. He places a premium on innovation, project management and talent development, particularly in leadership roles.
17. Ajay Seth-Maruti Suzuki
Ajay Seth, is the Chief financial officer of Maruti Suzuki. Mr Ajay Seth is a graduate from Institute of Chartered Accountants in India. He is an experienced professional whose work is appreciated by all, in the financial sector.
18. Ashok Santhalia Titan Company Limited
Ashok Sonthalia is the Chief financial officer of Titan Company Limited. He has nearly 30 years of experience in areas of strategic financial planning, business development, M&A, treasury, finance & accounts in diverse industry verticals in a multicultural multinational environment. He specialises in Strategic Financial Planning, Structuring, M&A, Treasury – Fund raising, Financial Risk management, Project evaluation & Financing, Performance analysis and review, Driving major improvement initiatives, negotiation and strategic tie-ups. He has held managerial positions for companies such as LTI, L&T, Tata chemicals etc. He is an ICAI graduate as well as an XLRI graduate. He did his Master’s in Business Management from European Centre of Executive Development (CEDEP), France.
19. Puneet Sharma
Puneet Sharma is the Chief Financial officer of Axis bank. He has more than two decades of experience in banks, financial sector and consulting. In his previous stint, he was with Tata Capital Limited for 12 years, as a senior management functionary interacting extensively with the Board. He served as the Chief Financial Officer of Tata Capital Limited and Tata Capital Financial Services Limited since 2014 and was accountable for financial control, financial planning, procurement and taxation. Prior to that, at Citibank N.A. his roles covered structured cash solutions, treasury operations, risk monitoring and reporting on fixed income securities. He started his career at Bharat S Raut & Co. and has also worked as a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group working with clients in financial services across many topics encompassing strategy, transformation and process improvement.
20.Deepak Maheshwari Adani Ports and SEZ limited
Currently, Deepak Maheshwari holds the position of Chief Financial Officer of Adani Ports Special Economic Zone Ltd. and Chief Financial Officer of Essar Energy Ltd. He is also on the board of Essar Oil (UK) Ltd. He previously was the CFO of Reliance power Ltd. He received an MBA from Xavier Labour relations Institute India and an MBA from London Business School.
21. Koushik Chatterjee
Mr Koushik chatterjee is the Chief financial Officer, executive officer and Board member at Tata Steel. His skills include application and of effective business strategies, business development and planning. He has volunteer at various esteemed places such as International Integrated Reporting Council, International Accounting Standard Board and TCFD.
22. Niraj Shah-HDFC Life
Niraj Shah is the CEO of HDFC life. Prior to this, he was the CFO at HDFC Life from february 2019. He was the chief financial officer and director of PNB Metlife India Insurance for nearly three years. Prior to this, he was the Senior Vice president at ICICI Prudential Life insurance Company Limited. He was also a manager at BNP Paribas Investment Banking. He studied his batchelor’s at H.R College of commerce, Bombay and he also graduated from ICAI. He did a PGDBM from IIM, Bangalore.
23.Sunil Burde- Pidilite
Sunil Burde is the chief financial officer of Pidilite. He has been with the company for a long time and has given it a new shape. He undoubtedly is one of the best financial officers we have in the country.
24. Anil rander-Larson and Toubro Infotech
Anil Rander is the Chief Financial Officer of Larson and Toubro Infotech. He is an established and experienced finance professional having experiences in the fields of business strategy, corporate accounting, development of financial accounting system, fiscal management, financial reporting, risk management, business transfer, taxation and more. He has held managerial positions at various prestigious companies such as tech Mahindra business services, Hutchison max telecom and Alpic finance. He is a graduate from ICAI, Institute of cost Accountants in India, and also Institute of Company Secretaries in India.
25. Ajay Goel-Vedanta
Ajay Goel is the CFO of Vedanta. He did his Bachelors of Commerce from St xavier’s College after which he enrolled himself in the Institute of Company secretaries in India. Then he graduated from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in India. Prior to being the CFO at Vedanta, he was the Executive VP at Diageo. He has also remained the CFO and VP of a company called GE. Also, he has been the lead finance manager at Coca Cola. His skills include- financial analysis, business strategy, managerial finance, financial audits, financial modeling, strategic financial planning, working capital management, financial reporting and internal controls.
26. Sushil Agarwal-Aditya Birla Group
Mr. Sushil Agarwal is currently the Group Chief Financial Officer. He serves as a Director on the Board of several Group companies including Aditya Birla Capital Ltd. and Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd. and is also a member of the Business Review Council of the Group.He has remained with the Group for nearly 30 years and has a distinction of working closely with the former Chairman Late Mr. Aditya Vikram Birla and current Chairman Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla. He has highly contributed in many Restructurings and Mergers and Acquisitions of the Group with his widely acknowledged financial acumen and analytical skills.
27. Sandeep Kumar Gupta-Indian Oil Corporation
Mr Sandeep Kumar Gupta is the CFO of Indian Oil Corporation. He has remained the CFO of the company since 2019. Prior to this, he was the Chief Risk Officer of the company and the Chief Risk Officer. He is also the Chairman of IOC Middle East FZE. He is a graduate from ICAI. he did his Batchelor’s from christ Churche College, Kanpur and schooling from Kendriya Vidyalaya in Bokaro Steel city.
28. Praveen Kumar-Hindalco Ind( Aditya Birla Group)
Mr Praveen Kumar is the CFO and Director of Hindalco Industries. Mr Maheshwari did his Engineering from IIT, Benaras Hindu University. He also earned a certificate of training in Bacancy Training Institute. Later, he did his executive course in Leadership training at the Wharton School. He hails from Uttar Pradesh and speaks three languages- English, Hindi and Punjabi.
29. Mohit Malhotra (Dabur)
Mr. Mohit Malhotra is a Management Graduate from Pune University and holds Executive Masters in International Business from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi. He joined Dabur in 1994 and handled key assignments in Marketing and Sales. In 2001 he took over as the Business Head of European Union. In 2004 he moved into Dabur’s International Business as Head of Marketing, based in Dubai, and took over the reins as Chief Executive Officer of Dabur International in 2008. Mr. Mohit Malhotra is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the $1.2 Billion Dabur India Ltd. and is driving the Company’s agenda to popularise and contemporise Ayurveda while focusing on Dabur’s motto of being “Dedicated to the Health & Well-Being of every household”. Mr. Malhotra possesses a strong leadership record and has a deep understanding of the consumer and business landscape across geographies. His achievements in business have earned recognition at the global level. He has been ranked in Forbes Middle East’s list of Arab World’s leading Indian Executives, consecutively for 4 years in a row from 2014, besides being named the NRI Professional of the Year 2016.
30. Manoj Bhat-Mahindra and Mahindra ltd
Manoj Bhat, is the current Chief financial officer of Mahindra and Mahindra ltd which nearly has 260K employees altogether. Mahindra is a company that specializes in vehicle manufacturing. Prior to this, Manoj was the Board member of Volva car centre, uddevalla. Manoj is an IIM Mumbai graduate. He did his Engineering and technology from Pune University. Before becoming the CFO at Tech Mahindra, he was Deputy CFO for five years. Before that, he was the Head, M@A, Corporate Planning from the year 2013. He is an extremely efficient person, and undoubtedly one of the best CFOs.
For any corrections/nominations, reach out to sanmitraadas2000@gmail.com.
