Over the past two decades I have been through a very interesting and enriching corporate journey. My experience and skills in the corporate world and consulting domain are summarised here:
Consulting
Set up a consulting organisation engaged in financial advisory, business management consulting, contract management, risk management and F&A process outsourcing. Consulted and implemented financial and operational solutions in various industry segments – Beverages, Industrial Automation, Power, Education (School, College and Deemed Universities). Raised Rs. 200 Cr. of Debt for a Beverage plant, Rs. 500 Cr for a Deemed University. Raised Equity for an IoT startup.
CFO
CFO for the Heavy Infrastructure business (comprising Minerals and Metals, Civil Infrastructure, Power projects and Heavy Fabrication businesses) in project costing, pricing, contract negotiation, structuring and execution of EPC Projects worth Rs. 5,000 Cr. Responsible for all aspects of Project Financing, Funding and Cost Control, Financial and Management Accounting and Audit, Indirect Taxation and Statutory Compliance and Banking relationships. Led a team of 60 F&A personnel spread across the world. Recruited, managed and motivated high-performing teams at the Head Office and Sites.
Led a high-energy team in strategizing and implementing order acquisition and contract structuring to ensure positive cash flows for new projects. Involved in projects worth Rs. 5,000 Cr. Raised working capital funding for completion of difficult Projects. Led a team in negotiating and settling claims for a large EPC project from a multinational metals organization at a substantial margin.
Led in instituting systems, business processes and methods to improve competitiveness. Worked with business in forming a plan to liquidate outstanding vendor payments.
Investing
Key member of the team to conceptualize and promote the Rs. 4000 Cr. Shipyard cum Port Project near Chennai. Largest greenfield investment by the blue-chip Group. Responsible for financial and commercial analysis of the investment resulting in approval of the Board. Involved in the Financial structuring and debt funding (~Rs. 2600 Cr.) for the project. Structured the Shipyard as a SEZ (though not export oriented) thereby reducing the Project Cost (Capex) by about 10%.
Role included responsibility for accounting, controlling and optimizing Project Cost and arranging of funds for the Project. Analysis and Reporting of Cost Performance, Project Schedule and the Financial Projections to the Management.
Intensive interaction with the Business and Project management teams. Good understanding the industry space, cost and operational drivers of the Heavy Engineering, Shipyard, Defence, Nuclear Power, Aerospace and Process Plant equipment business thoroughly. Responsibilities included Controlling (F&A) the Hazira Shipyard.
Strategised and implementing growth in the Rs. 4000 Cr. Heavy Engineering Division of the Group. Studied the competency gap (particularly in the Defence/Nuclear/Aerospace business) and recommended build/buy/align strategies to bridge the gaps. Several technology MoUs and JVs (EADS, (now Cassidian), NPCIL JV for Heavy Forge Facility and the JV for Shipyard and Port) successfully executed. Evaluated and presented several acquisition/alliance/Greenfield/SEZ proposals to the Board of Directors.
Instrumental in promoting Projects for establishing two new manufacturing campus (Coimbatore and Talegaon, near Pune) with a combined investment of about Rs. 100 Cr. The facilities were designed to manufacture Defence (Land systems and Radars), Nuclear and other precision manufactured products.
These exclusive facilities have increased the throughput, improved quality, and shortened cycletimes. Both these investments were monitored and guidance provided to the operating staff on bid pricing and resource utilization to maximize return on investment.
JV & Alliances
Successfully promoted a Rs. 2000 Cr. greenfield Heavy Forgings facility capable of manufacturing Nuclear grade forgings upto 500 MT (single piece finished weight). Strategised and brought in a PSU as a Joint Venture partner to reduce equity investment and to source technology for the project. Also negotiated soft-debt from the JV partner thereby reducing the overall cost of capital for the JV.
Negotiated a pioneering Joint Venture with a leading European Defence manufacturer (EADS, now Cassidian) for design and manufacture of certain Defence products in India. Role included structuring the JV to comply with regulatory requirements (FDI regulations), financial analysis and commercial and legal aspects. Led in negotiating terms with the JV partner.
Initiated technology/manufacturing/distribution alliances for various products and services in the Process Plant and Defence sectors.
M&A
Responsible for identifying business fit, due diligence, valuation and deal structuring. Acquired a Defence electronics company based in Bangalore. The acquisition plugged a significant technology gap providing an opportunity to offer better solutions to the customer. In five years sales grew ~4x and PAT ~5x.
Well networked in the manufacturing industry (Process plant, Defence, Aerospace, Nuclear Sectors) and in banking industry.
Others
Costing, Cost Analysis and Cost Forecasting:
Developed a cost estimation system for the Heavy Engineering Division. Finalised estimation rates for bidding and costing. Team member for determining pricing strategy for Projects and Unit equipment. Analysed cost trends and forecast profitability scenarios.
Budgeting and Cost Control:
Coordinated and finalised the entire performance Budgeting activity including Production, Sales, Revenue and Capital expenses, Profit and profitability Budgets. Responsible for controlling expenses to ensure achieving budgetary targets. Spearheaded cost control activities and achieved Target costs.
Developed a model for Budgeting using Hyperion software for iterative process of both bottom-up and top-down budgeting.
Operational and Financial Performance Reporting and Forecasting:
Reported Financial and Operations performance. Responsible for financial analysis, forecasting, reporting of variances from budgets/revised targets and recommending corrective action. Implemented a SBU-Production Center two-dimensional matrix reporting. Basis which variable component of remuneration was determined. Identified value drivers for determining individual and group performance incentives. Responsible for developing and maintaining all MIS Systems. Developed a data warehousing system to make available snapshot views of performance to aid decision-making at various levels in the organisation.
Knowledge and Experience of Manufacturing Processes:
Extensive knowledge of the Heavy engineering industry (Design, Manufacturing, Program Management, Logistics etc.) and its processes and systems. Intensive interaction with shop-floor managers to advise on financial impact of technical/ operating decisions. Implementation of Activity based costing and identification and removal of non-value added activities.
Strategy Development:
Key Member of various Strategy initiatives for evaluating the business portfolio from a long-term perspective and identifying new businesses, products and geographies for growth. Identified a new product which generated about Rs. 1000 Cr. turnover over 4 years. Also identified new markets in South America and China for existing products.
Systems Development Experience:
Developed a module for shop floor manpower management in Baan ERP – used as basis for Job Costing. Effectively utilized Enterprise Performance Manager (EPM) in BaaN for online scoreboarding.
Developed stand-alone/integrated models for Revenue and Profit forecasts, Sensitivity Analysis and Scenario Playing using MS Excel, Access and Visual Basic (VB) coding.
Thorough knowledge of all MS Office applications including Excel, Access, Powerpoint and working knowledge of VB Coding.
Others:
Team member in several strategy initiatives including export strategy formulation in conjunction with Strategic Decisions Group (SDG) of USA.
Finance Member of Team for executing a large first-time Export order (Coal Gassifier for China).
Good communication and presentation skills. Substantial experience in evaluating and presenting business cases to the Top Management.