Heading the Finance and Supply Chain for HippoStores, construction material wholesaler and retailer

Heading the Finance function for Max retail division• Streamlined the OTB process and its review mechanism by integrating the store sales planning, division sales planning and buy planning, thereby ensured the balance between the sales opportunity and the inventory carrying.• Reduced the inventory carrying days from 106 days to 98 days through inventory planning and balancing between the mark downs and obsolescence.• Ensured realisation of budgeted gross margins by strategising discounting, promotions and stock arrival pattern.• Optimised the store profitability by enforcing cost optimisation on mature stores by pegging the expenses with sales achievement.and rolling out cost saving intiatives for all operating expenses.• Helped the business expand rapidly by turning around the proposals for new stores quickly and ensuring ROCE is kept intact by having a healthy mix of own stores and franchise owned stores.• Ensured adherence to 100% legal compliance on all critical elements

Led the transformation from legacy management to professional management and established centres of excellence. Driving multiyear business and financial strategy for each of the brands.Introduced activity based costing and pricing for products there by reducing the COGS by 12%Reduced borrowing cost by 425bps and merchant servicing fees by 25bps for card transactions. Established a company wide governance process on key processes and compliances.Established financial tools such as ROCE, DCF to enable the business to make informed decision making on new store opening/ new businesses.Optimised the working capital cycle by reducing inventory levels by 20%, reducing WIP cycle, reducing the transit time of Finished Goods to stores, speeding up of collections and thereby managed to keep the borrowings almost at the same level while the business moved from Rs.200 crores to Rs.700 crores. Reduced Store operating costs and thereby reduced the non performing stores from 12% to 5%Co-Led the implementation of SAP AFS and IS-Retail enterprise system covering Designing, Manufacturing, Procurement, Retailing, Finance, Quality Management and Warehouse management system in a record time. Saved USD 750K in the project costs

Restructured loans and negotiated additional funding to revive IT park and power plant projectsResolved service tax liabilities outstanding for over 7 years and brought the tax position up to date.

Led Telenor India to no.1 rank and set a benchmark across Telenor reporting entities on HFM reporting and group deadlines.Multiple and large finance teams management - Financial Accounting and Reporting, Internal Control, Taxation, Revenue assurance, Compliance and ERP. Initiated and directed Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 certification of internal control environment. Transformed outsourced shared services contract and reduced processing costs.Finalized treatment of complex transactions in accordance with IFRS / Indian GAAP.Established standards, internal controls and best practices for accounting, transfer pricing and vendor management

Rapid growth from Senior Manager-Finance to General Manager-Finance. Led the development of first-in-the industry profitability model that provides granular level visibility to various revenue streams and also serve as a common decision making tool.Prepared Annual Operating Plans, Quarterly Forecasts. Monitored performance and guided business units towards achieving/exceeding financial targets Managed operational finance and led finance function of 4 different licence areas. Managed business planning & analysis for South India Region.Delivered significant cost savings and developed best practices in performance management.Conducted intra-company and inter-company benchmarking exercises and provided valuable insights on competitor analysis.

Prepared annual operating plan, revised forecasts and variance analysis between actual and AOP/Forecast for 5 plants and 2 business unitsEstablished quantity based import-licensing norms with the Government of India for entire shock absorber industryTreasury / Funds Management and Working Capital Management.Reduction of cost of capital and borrowings.Submission of monthly Financial statements (under both US GAAP and Indian GAAP)Establishment of budgetary controls and approval process for deviations.Costing of Ride control and Emission control products.

Preparation of Annual Business Plan and Rolling EstimatesCredit control and Receivables accounting.Brand and Pack profitability/contribution statements.Accounting and reconciliation of Empties.Price fixation and co-ordination with contract packers.Co-ordination point for the Sales team with the Finance/Distribution teams Budgetary Control of Advertisement, Discounts, Capex etcHandling Corporate Audit Group

Fixed Assets ManagementIndirect Taxation

Compilation and consolidation of financial statements / accounts data of various branches / offices.Preparation of MIS reports such as selling cost per unit of sales.Preparation of Daily/Weekly/Monthly Cash flow statements.Inventory management, receivables analysisPreparation of periodical P & L, Balance Sheet and other Management reports.Monitoring depots and C & F agents.Coordination with costing department for product pricing.Sales tax assessments and Income tax assessments Internal audit of procurement, production, costing, personnel, maintenance, marketing etc.

Process audits to identify gaps in internal control systemsStatutory audits