Paresh Gupta: The Efficacious Value Creator
Paresh Gupta
CFO
The astute finance professionalunderstands the business drivers required to achieve high performance and ultimately creates value for stakeholders. Having functioned as an intricate part of executive leadership teams across various companies, Paresh has been instrumental in setting direction, strategy, startup operations, business process reengineering, crafting & implementing best practices and thereby improving performance. In an in-depth conversation with CEO Insights, he speaks about his current role at GVK Biosciences and the various wins that he has achieved at the organization.
Tell us about GVK Biosciences as an organization. What role do you play as the CFO of the organization?
GVK Biosciences is a global CRDO (Contract Research & Development Organization) that unleashes the power of R&D to contribute towards unmet medical needs of millions of patient. The company is built on the foundation of high standards of corporate governance, transparency and ethics, which are deeply engrained in our value system.
Currently as the CFO at GVK Bio Group of Companies, I am responsible for handling corporate &
business finance, strategy, M&A, treasury, risk management,legal and tax &compliance. Recently I have taken over the additional responsibility of managing and guiding SCM function, which plays an important role is driving the company’s performance through on time delivery of material and services at most cost competitive price through strategic sourcing. Additionally, I am a member of the management committee that drives performance and transformation.
Throw some light on your career as a finance professional before coming on board GVK Biosciences.
Over the years, I have gathered the experience of working with startups as well as growth organizations. At a very early stage of my career, I got the opportunity to manage and head finance functions at ESAB India, a listed MNC in India. Previously I have worked as the CFO at Jubilant Drax Image, Canada as internal movement within Jubilant Group. Prior to Jubilant, I had worked with various MNCs such as Kraft Food, Lufthansa and Thermofisher, all Fortune 500 companies.
I have learnt a lot and gathered rewarding experiences that have helped me become a stronger CFO. I have been selected amongst the Top 100 CFOs by 9.9 Media for three consecutive years and I constantly share my experience & learning by participating in various industry forums.
Please throw some light on some of the steps you took as the CFO of GVK Biosciences that have facilitated growth and performance enhancement. Over the years, I have led several projects and functions at GVK that have ultimately contributed to value reaction. I facilitated strategy formulation for three years with clearly defined KPIs & business plan. We merged with a 100 percent subsidiary to derive maximum synergy and ease of operation, completed the acquisition of remaining shareholding of M&A done in FY’15 and evaluated a couple of M&A targets for inorganic growth in line with our three year
Since we are in an expansion mode, I balance resource allocation and judicious CAPEX spend to ensure that all business requirements are met
Throw some light on your career as a finance professional before coming on board GVK Biosciences.
Over the years, I have gathered the experience of working with startups as well as growth organizations. At a very early stage of my career, I got the opportunity to manage and head finance functions at ESAB India, a listed MNC in India. Previously I have worked as the CFO at Jubilant Drax Image, Canada as internal movement within Jubilant Group. Prior to Jubilant, I had worked with various MNCs such as Kraft Food, Lufthansa and Thermofisher, all Fortune 500 companies.
I have learnt a lot and gathered rewarding experiences that have helped me become a stronger CFO. I have been selected amongst the Top 100 CFOs by 9.9 Media for three consecutive years and I constantly share my experience & learning by participating in various industry forums.
Please throw some light on some of the steps you took as the CFO of GVK Biosciences that have facilitated growth and performance enhancement. Over the years, I have led several projects and functions at GVK that have ultimately contributed to value reaction. I facilitated strategy formulation for three years with clearly defined KPIs & business plan. We merged with a 100 percent subsidiary to derive maximum synergy and ease of operation, completed the acquisition of remaining shareholding of M&A done in FY’15 and evaluated a couple of M&A targets for inorganic growth in line with our three year
strategy. I have worked on tax management through restructuring, setting up of unit in SEZ & availing of MEIS/SEIS benefits and restructuring of shareholding pattern whereby the PE firm increased its stake.
On the technology front, I enabled upgradation by implementing SAP, business analytics and we are now moving towards robotic process automation. As part of my SCM role, I ensure that delivery timelines and quality standards are met at the best possible cost. Since we are in an expansion mode, I balance resource allocation and judicious CAPEX spend to ensure that all business requirements are met. Additionally, I ensure daily monitoring of inflow,outflow & utilization of funds, keep utilization of cash credit almost nil, usage of various lines of working capitals according to the cost with various banks, negotiate rates with all banks and brought down average RoI by 100 basis points.
While you hold the fort down at GVK Biosciences, what factors help you maintain a healthy personal life? How has your relationship with your family evolved over the years?
I often fall short of words when I talk about the support that my family has rendered in my journey so far. My wife Hema, my daughter Manaswini and the little master Sanchit have always been the source of my energy. They have had to sacrifice their friends and family in order to move along with me wherever my career took me but they have always been encouraging. I am also ever grateful to my parents, brothers and sisters who have always stood by me in major life decisions.
In all honesty, I was unable to spend ample time with my family during the initial stage of my career. However, now I am making an effort to balance my work and family and spend as much time as I can with them while adequately discharging my professional responsibilities.
KEY MANAGEMENT
Paresh Gupta, CFO
Armed with over two decades of experience in the finance sector, Paresh has been instrumental in setting direction, strategy, startup operations, business process reengineering, crafting andimplementing best practices. Leveraging his vast industry experience, he has been handling finance SCM functions at GVK Biosciences.
On the technology front, I enabled upgradation by implementing SAP, business analytics and we are now moving towards robotic process automation. As part of my SCM role, I ensure that delivery timelines and quality standards are met at the best possible cost. Since we are in an expansion mode, I balance resource allocation and judicious CAPEX spend to ensure that all business requirements are met. Additionally, I ensure daily monitoring of inflow,outflow & utilization of funds, keep utilization of cash credit almost nil, usage of various lines of working capitals according to the cost with various banks, negotiate rates with all banks and brought down average RoI by 100 basis points.
While you hold the fort down at GVK Biosciences, what factors help you maintain a healthy personal life? How has your relationship with your family evolved over the years?
I often fall short of words when I talk about the support that my family has rendered in my journey so far. My wife Hema, my daughter Manaswini and the little master Sanchit have always been the source of my energy. They have had to sacrifice their friends and family in order to move along with me wherever my career took me but they have always been encouraging. I am also ever grateful to my parents, brothers and sisters who have always stood by me in major life decisions.
In all honesty, I was unable to spend ample time with my family during the initial stage of my career. However, now I am making an effort to balance my work and family and spend as much time as I can with them while adequately discharging my professional responsibilities.
KEY MANAGEMENT
Paresh Gupta, CFO
Armed with over two decades of experience in the finance sector, Paresh has been instrumental in setting direction, strategy, startup operations, business process reengineering, crafting andimplementing best practices. Leveraging his vast industry experience, he has been handling finance SCM functions at GVK Biosciences.