Former BSE chairman and Founder of Ravi Rajan & Co LLP, S Ravi says CFOs are increasingly driving IPO readiness, succession planning and governance strategy across India Inc
The CFO’s role has undergone a fundamental transformation — from compliance function to strategic co-pilot — and nowhere is that more visible than in IPO execution, said S. Ravi, Founder, Ravi Rajan & Co. and Former Chairman, Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
“To get a company into an IPO, to get anchor investors, to get everything together, only an experienced hand can take that,” he said. India’s multi-layered regulatory environment spanning SEBI, RBI, IRDAI and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has made pre-IPO finance leadership far more complex than a decade ago.
Ravi traced the CFO’s evolution plainly: “They were just like a compliance tick box type of people. Then they graduated into financial results. Then into risk managers. And now, CFOs have become CEOs and MDs.” The differentiator, he said, is business awareness — “Who can become a CEO from a CFO?” Businesses have evolved over a period and have become complex thus CFOs aware of this can transition from the role of CFO to CEO.
On governance, he flagged persistent friction in family-run firms: “In some family-run companies, the CFO becomes more of a ‘chief fixing officer’, as their role is only to resolve issues of the family.” As generational transitions accelerate, he concluded, “The role of the CFO is no longer limited. They are the co-pilot of the whole setup.”