Remodeling from Compliance to Strategic Management in India, ETCFO
EThe function of India’s CFOs is present process a quiet revolution. As soon as forged as compliance custodians, at present’s finance leaders have gotten strategic co-pilots, serving to firms navigate the advanced journey of digital innovation, resilient development and deep market penetration.
“Once I make the annual price range, the hardest part to log off is the IT chapter,” joked Rakesh Bhatia, CFO at Tata Capital. “It’s powerful to quantify the ROI, however the stakes are too excessive to disregard.”
Bhatia’s sentiment set the tone for a dialog that explored how CFOs are more and more taking centre stage in shaping an innovation-first India. With tier-2 and tier- 3 cities changing into hotbeds of startup exercise and digital adoption surging throughout sectors, the finance operate is not again workplace — it’s entrance and centre.
Khyati Maheshwari, CFO at Moet Hennessy mentioned transformation is not a venture but it surely’s a lifestyle. “As CFOs, we should assist operationalize change, stability micro- market dynamics and assist strategic pivots, which implies being hands-on in tech and
folks selections alike.”
Girish Goenka, CFO, Piramal Realty emphasised the CFO’s transition from a scorekeeper to a strategist. “I used to spend 80 per cent of my time in audit and compliance. Now, it’s 15 per cent. The remainder is technique, innovation and being the ‘shadow CEO’. CFOs are trusted to information large bets and guarantee they’re future proof.”However this new function requires rewiring conventional pondering.
“Accounting taught us to be cautious,” mentioned Pulkit Goyal. “However at present’s CFOs should take daring calls. Innovation gained’t look ahead to full readability—it calls for belief, imaginative and prescient and real-time decision-making.”
Nithya Bala Subramanian, Group CFO, IKS Well being sees innovation as greater than a product or a expertise; to her, it’s a mindset. “We used to speak about jugaad (frugal) innovation. Now we’re speaking about India making unique, world-first breakthroughs. This implies CFOs should perceive dangers like enterprise capitalists and defend investments that will not yield returns for years.”
Nitin Khanna added one other layer: the CFO’s voice is now essential in shaping industry-wide reforms and public coverage. “We’re not simply reacting to compliance however serving to construct fairer, extra clear techniques. We’re interfacing with regulators, buyers and even
cybersecurity consultants to create long-term worth.”
Thus, the CFO chair now calls for not simply monetary acumen, but in addition braveness, curiosity and readability — a far cry from the normal number-crunching stereotype. As we speak’s CFO should navigate dynamic markets, affect boardroom technique, allow innovation and
drive long-term worth creation.
As India accelerates towards an innovation-led future, the CFO is not only a monetary chief however a visionary enabler of transformation on the very core of enterprise development.
(This story relies on insights from a panel dialogue titled “CFOs and the Bharat Innovation Financial system: Fueling the Subsequent Tech Wave” on the 2nd version of ETCFO NextGen, held in Mumbai on June 13 beneath the theme “Powering Bharat. Click on right here to observe the total video.
