Confidential search managed by Haachi. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted directly. Haachi is an equal-opportunity executive search firm; we encourage applications from candidates of every background.
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Role: Chief Financial Officer
Build. Fund. Govern.
Listed-Co CFO │ Manufacturing │ Capital Markets & M&A │ Ayodhya
Company: NSE/BSE-listed Indian manufacturer │ Sustainability-led │ Packaging with a Soul
Headquarters: Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh
Sector: Compostable & sustainable packaging │ Bagasse-based pulp, paper, moulded ware, flexibles
Founded: 1981 │ 44+ years │ Recent rebrand to a category-defining sustainability identity
Reports To: Group Lead & Managing Director (founder-led, owner-driven)
Location: Ayodhya (primary) │ Noida (secondary) │ Extensive Ayodhya ↔ Noida travel
Engagement: Full-time, on-site
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The Mandate & The Client
This is a build seat, not a maintenance seat. Over the next 24 months, the company will commission its flagship capex programme—the world's first compostable flexible packaging facility (announced at ~₹750 Cr in Ayodhya)—consolidate current operations, and accelerate into the next leg of growth. The CFO will be the financial spine of that journey: capital markets, treasury, governance, IR, M&A, and a real-time, dashboard-driven finance function across all SBUs. The brief is direct, owner-led, and time-sensitive. The Group Lead & Managing Director is the principal sparring partner for the CFO from day one.
The client is a 44-year-old Ayodhya-based business that has reinvented itself into one of the most distinctive sustainability stories on the Indian bourses. The company makes compostable packaging primarily from sugarcane bagasse, sourcing raw material and biomass-based fuel within 200 km of the Ayodhya plant, which also houses an 8.5 MW captive biomass power plant. Roughly a third of revenue comes from exports across 30+ countries.
In 2023, the company rebranded and made its NSE debut under its new identity. In 2024, it raised ~₹245 crore in fresh capital. Most recently, it announced a "Super Mega" category capex programme (classified by the Government of Uttar Pradesh) to roughly double production capacity and establish the world's first compostable flexible packaging facility at scale.
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The Role
The CFO will own the financial strategy, governance, capital structure, and investor narrative of a listed manufacturing company at the inflection point of significant growth. The role reports directly to the Managing Director and works alongside the Audit Committee, the Board, lenders, institutional and retail shareholders, and the wider leadership team across SBUs.
Mission:
- Build financial strength within the organisation through fiscal and monetary discipline.
Outcomes the CFO Will Be Held To:
- Strengthen financial health: Net Debt/EBITDA ≤ 1.5x; RoCE ≥ 15%.
- Cost optimisation: Lead initiatives that protect growth, with material annual run-rate savings.
- Compliance: Ensure 100% statutory and regulatory compliance—zero audit qualifications.
- Modernisation: Stand up real-time, decision-grade financial dashboards across every SBU.
- Valuation & IR: Lead investor relations, securing sustainable capital access and supporting valuation growth at 2x CAGR.
Key Areas of Ownership
1. Financial Freedom (Project funding & Working Capital)
- Raise capital across debt (banks, FIs, impact and structured), equity, quasi-equity, preferential and rights instruments.
- Drive down cost of capital and ease of access; manage working capital cost YOY.
2. Investor & Shareholder Relations
- Be the financial mouthpiece of the company to public-market investors, analysts, and the Board.
- Run quarterly earnings calls, results updates, road shows, annual reports, exchange filings, and press releases.
- Build transparency, achieve an NPS > 75 with the investor base, and close every investor query end-to-end.
3. Financial Strategy & AOP
- Refine the Annual Operating Plan process—data-led, indicator-driven, low budget-vs-actual variance.
- Run benchmarking studies across industries; bring outside-in views into strategic decisions.
- Identify M&A opportunities, run feasibility, valuations, due-diligence, and structuring.
4. Internal Controls & Audit
- Design and run a cyclical Internal Audit programme covering every part of the business.
- Partner with Internal Audit and SBU leaders to close action items on time.
- Represent at the Audit Committee, embed inputs, drive efficiency improvement loops.
5. Corporate Governance
- Frame governance policy aligned to the Companies Act, SEBI LODR, and exchange requirements.
- Be the flag-bearer for governance—train, communicate, and embed across leadership.
- Ensure complete adherence to Board, Audit Committee, MCA, and exchange obligations. Zero red flags.
6. Financial Accounting & MIS
- Run a vibrant, accurate financial accounting environment—timely, clean, automated.
- Modernise the stack—bring in tools, automation, and team capability across sub-functions.
- Timely monthly MIS, every month, no exceptions.
7. Tax Management
- Structure direct and indirect tax (GST, customs, transfer pricing) for business need and tax efficiency.
- Zero tolerance for non-compliance. Use compliance software to ensure every filing is on time.
8. Mergers & Acquisitions
- Identify M&A opportunities aligned to growth strategy.
- Run valuations, negotiations, due diligence, and deal structuring.
- Lead the legal and integration process post-close.
9. Build a data-led, pre-emptive organisation
- Stand up clear, decision-supporting dashboards for every function.
- Know the automation landscape—software, tools, and integrations available.
- Mitigate identified business risks through systems and automation.
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What We're Looking For
This is a hire for someone who has done the work, knows the rhythm of a listed manufacturing company, and has the appetite to build at the source—not from a metro head-office.
Background
- CA and / or MBA (Finance)—preferably both.
- 18–22 years of finance leadership; meaningful time as a Finance Head, Deputy CFO, or CFO of a listed Indian entity.
- Strong manufacturing finance grounding—cost, working capital, capex governance, plant-level visibility.
- Demonstrable international exposure—exports, forex, transfer pricing, multi-jurisdiction compliance.
Capability Signals
- Has run a fundraise (capital markets and/or banks/FIs and/or structured/impact) and lived the cycle from term sheet to close.
- Has owned investor relations—analyst days, quarterly calls, road shows—for a listed entity.
- Has been through at least one M&A as a principal—feasibility, valuation, due-diligence, structuring.
- Treasury and forex are second nature—not a delegated function.
- Comfortable with SEBI LODR, the Companies Act, and the rhythm of Audit and Board committees.
- Modern stack—has automated MIS, dashboards, compliance software, and reduced human dependency in close cycles.
Disposition
- A builder: Lean, hands-on, comfortable in a founder-led, mid-cap environment.
- Commercially fluent: Finance is decision-support, not just a control function.
- An ambassador: Comfortable being the financial face of the company to a Board, analyst, banker, or regulator.
- Mission-driven: Genuinely interested in regenerative manufacturing and the next decade of Indian sustainability.
- Location: Willing to base in Ayodhya. This is non-negotiable.
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Compensation
Competitive—benchmarked to listed mid-cap CFO range, with the upside profile of a growth-stage, founder-led company. Specific ranges will be shared confidentially with shortlisted candidates.