Mr. Gorai, is a Chartered Accountant and PGDBM (Finance & Strategy) from MDI, Gurgaon, presently Director Finance in KIOCL Limited, a Gov of India Enterprise under Ministry of Steel.
Swapan has 32 years of diversified, multi-cultural, multi-country, multi-industry, professional experience in a number of entities in CPSE/MNC/Corporate sectors in areas of Finance & Accounts, Corporate affairs, Information Technology and Human Resource. Here
Here’s a peek into his insights being a CFO based on a couple of questions we asked.
1. What are the main concerns of the finance community currently?
- Likely Obsolescence in current business model during fast changing technology
- Effective absorption of relevant technology
- Return on Technology Projects, Cyber Security
- Expanding stakeholder’s expectation
- Meeting increasing Social and environmental obligation
- Nurturing and retaining talent to the needs of future
2. In your 30+ year of journey being a finance veteran, how would you define Finance 4.0?
Finance 4.0 would need upgradation of CFO role into expanded role to offer value to meet the following emerging areas of doing business:
- Participate in setting strategic goal shoulder to shoulder with CEO towards sustainability, participate identifying the business model, most effective to achieve the goal, manage risk while navigating through the journey as a co-pilot
- Lead the technology adoption process, continuously identifying critical technology that need to be adopted to gain competitive edge, managing change during the adoption of technology and digital transformation
- Provide business insight by harnessing operational data, identifying trends, predicting likely outcome by using technology like big data and then comparing it with the desired outcome
- Deliver value through business finance by providing real time actual as well as forecasted operational outcome and through specialized financial services like Taxation, Treasury and Integrated reporting
- Development, maintenance and protection of critical intangible assets through strategy and tools of cyber security
- Manage effective relationship with various stakeholders as well as with c-suite occupants
- Optimize human resource in finance function, nurture skill among team members that is needed for tomorrow’s business and develop strategy to retain the people having the relevant skillset through engagement with continuously reducing age profile of people
3. Year 2019 was a challenging year for most industries. How do you intend to plan for 2020?
Mining and Metal industry had a bad year in 2019. For 2020, our plan is to:
- Optimize cost through diversification of raw material sourcing
- Modernization of the processing Plant
- Exploring new markets/customers
- Product diversification through fast execution of viable brownfield projects
- Adoption of integrated system and digitization,
- Skill upgradation through adoption of PCMM level-2
4. Is digital transformation seen as the way to go even among legacy businesses?
Digital transformation is the only way to remain competitive and relevant in today’s fast changing environment of doing business. Digital technology if adopted effectively, can empower the business to do more with the less, to enrich customers experience to a level never achieved earlier, to offer product or service that meets the needs of future customers