CEO Insights India

Over the last few decades, the role of the CFO has undergone a profound shift. Today CFOs have been incorporating stronger and more capable finance functions, which contributes to the growth of the strategic players of the organizations. Krishan Gopal, CFO, DMI Group is one such influential leader who has a demonstrated history of driving the direction and success of multiple organizations. He has been leading the financial industry for more than 17 years excelling in strategic planning, budgeting,resource mobilization, accounting, auditing, investor relations, compliance, and risk management. He has substantial experience of fundraising through capital markets, banks, deposits, domestic & foreign investors and is well acquainted with regulatory compliance framework & assetliability management. Krishan is a self reliant leader who believes in a proactive approach to business operations and works right alongside partners from other parts of the company thereby redefining company culture from the ground up. He possesses hands on experience on a large set of financial instruments ranging from vanilla term loans, cash credit, WCDL, debentures, bonds, commercial papers to structured products like securitization, direct assignment, subordinate debt, perpetual debt, ECBs & masala bonds. He is a champion and steward of digital technology who keeps himself updated on new technologies and stands at the forefront of ERP implementations and cloud based solutions. Let's hear it from him.

Take us through your journey from being the Deputy Manager at Deloitte to being the CFO of DMI Group.
I am a Chartered Accountant by profession and started my career with Price Waterhouse in the Audit

team. And after PwC worked with Deloitte. During my tenure with Deloitte, I got an opportunity to work with the lenders like HDFC Limited, which is one of the largest financial services companies. The audit experience gave me the platform to learn and experience the tricks and trade of the finance companies. Contribution and value addition of financial services to a large number of needy population got me interested in the sector. After Deloitte, I worked with PNB Housing as the Head of Treasury & Corporate Planning, and later on, I got an opportunity to work as CFO of Satin Creditcare Group. Currently, I am the Group CFO of DMI Finance Group.

What were the major challenges you have encountered so far in your journey? How did you overcome them to emerge as a successful leader? Tell us about your major mile stones.
The major challenge of a CFO is to make the people understand, how financial aspects impacts the way business is to be done. I shifted focus from hardcore accounting and put a lot of effort to understand the business on the ground level to establish a finance function as business enabler and achieve business success. I was able to develop a fair understanding of businesses to provide value added solutions to my organizations. Understanding the business process, is in itself a major task. Hence, one needs to jump into the pond & swim rather than being just a spectator as an Accountant. I take pride in being able to take every company that I have worked with to greater heights. During my association with PNB Housing, I have been instrumental in successfully setting up various functions like resources mobilization, treasury, accounts, investor relations and corporate planning into the organization. Organizations I worked for gave me opportunities to be part of core team leading the key projects like implementation of wing to wing ERP,

Establishment of the Risk Management Policies and specific fund raising initiatives like raising funds through Masala Bonds and taking the Firm to the Capital Market i.e. listing process. These events have acted as the milestones of my journey.

How do you keep up to date with changes in financial sector trends to steer your organization towards the future?
Being the CFO, I have been able to take financial data and use it to influence operational decision making and strategy across my organization. I focus on keeping myself updated on the latest technology which is the high priority investment. I also keep myself informed about the current financial regulations to be able to strategize, collaborate and facilitate financial solutions in my organization. I have also done IFRS courses from KPMG which helps me to keep myself updated on all financial grounds. And off course, the networking in the industry always helps one to keep pace with the new developments and best practices

What would be your advice to the budding leaders who would like to set a benchmark in their careers?
There is no shortcut to success. Young professionals should have the courage and the ability to pull their sleeves up and work hard to transform themselves and the organizations, they are associated with. They must make themselves capable of envisioning business opportunities with a global point of view.

Krishan Gopal, CFO, DMI Group
Having pursued CA from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Krishan has been trained by BCG at Global Innovation Centre Paris and have been associated with multiple organizations for 17+ years. Currently, he is leading DMI Group as the Group Chief Financial Officer.

HobbiesReading books
FavoriteBook:Science of Self Realization
FavoriteCuisine:Vegetarian delicacies
FavouriteTravelDestination:Udaipur