Day 2 of BW Businessworld and BW CFO’s The Future Finance Office with Government of UP and Invest UP as Presenting Partner & Official State Partner, Digital Transformation Partner: SAP Concur, Corporate Performance Management Partner: CCH®️ Tagetik, Capital Market Communication Partner: Adfactors PR, Knowledge Partner: IBS, Spend Management Partner: Zaggle; continued at The Centrum, Lucknow, with senior finance leaders, policymakers and industry experts engaging in strategic discussions on the future of finance, governance, capital deployment and sustainable growth.
Building on the momentum of Day 1, the second day expanded its focus to include investment attractiveness, reputation management, fiscal discipline, regulatory governance, intelligent finance ecosystems and ESG-led business transformation.
The Finance Function: Then and Now
The day opened with a panel discussion on the evolution of the finance function, featuring Pinky Mehta of Aditya Birla Capital, Subhas Venkitaraman of Kyndryl, Mahdeep Mehta of PB Fintech, Mandar Dixit of M&M and Ajay Jajoo of Deepak Phenolics, in conversation with Hoshie Ghaswalla of BW Businessworld.
The session explored how CFOs have evolved from operational stewards to strategic enablers of business growth and transformation.
Uttar Pradesh’s Investment Momentum
A keynote by Vijay Kiran Anand, IAS, Secretary, Infrastructure & Industrial Development cum CEO of Invest UP, Government of Uttar Pradesh highlighted Uttar Pradesh’s efforts to position itself as one of India’s most attractive investment destinations. Anand gave an extensive presentation on why UP is the most favoured destination for investment across sectors and how the government is supporting through various initiatives. The session underscored the state’s infrastructure ambitions, policy support and growing importance in India’s economic growth story.
Managing Reputation in a Perma-Crisis Era
The discussion then shifted to financial communications, with Madan Bahal, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Adfactors PR, addressing the implications of reputation risk in an increasingly volatile, crisis-prone business environment.
Fiscal Discipline and Governance
A fireside chat featuring Deepak Kumar, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Uttar Pradesh, explored what corporate finance leaders can learn from state-level fiscal discipline and governance.
Governance remained a central theme in a panel featuring Radha R of TVS Sundram; Ajay Kumar of ATAIN; Sumedha Verma of SAP Concur; and Manoj Kedia of Aditya Birla Chemicals, moderated by CA Sanjeev Singhal, Chairman, Accounting Standards Board, ICAI, Partner SR Batliboi & Co.
The discussion examined regulatory expectations, accountability and governance frameworks required for agile yet responsible business growth.
Designing Faster Frameworks for Growth
Afternoon sessions focused on execution and future readiness, with Prerna Sharma, IAS, ACEO of Invest UP, Government of Uttar Pradesh sharing insights on designing governance frameworks that enable faster disbursement and efficient execution.
Alok Kumar, Principal Secretary, IT & Electronics, Planning & Programme Implementation and Nodal Officer for Uttar Pradesh's One Trillion Dollar Economy Initiative spoke about structuring a trillion-dollar growth story.
A standalone session by S Ravi, Founder of Ravi Rajan & Co and former Chairman of the Bombay Stock Exchange, explored the concept of the futuristic CFO and the evolving leadership expectations from finance professionals.
Capital Allocation and Intelligent Finance Ecosystems
Post-lunch discussions centred on capital allocation and finance transformation, featuring Arun Kumar Sharma of Jubilant Pharmanova; Sachin Jain of Procmart; Anil Juneja of Medtronic; who discussed strategic capital deployment in a dynamic business environment.
Anjali Desai of Zaggle Zoyer addressed how to build intelligent payment ecosystems with AI.
The conversation on building the finance office of tomorrow continued with a panel featuring Arnab Roy of Maruti Suzuki; Poornima Subramanian of ICICI Lombard; Jogendra Singh of Hero Enterprises; Jyotsna Sharma of Bridgestone; Nishant Vyas of CCH Tagetik India, Wolters Kluwer; and Satish, Dean at ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad.
ESG and Sustainability
The day concluded with a discussion on ESG and sustainability featuring Prabin Dokania, GST; Samir Ashta of Apraava Energy; Swati Chauhan of Vedanta; Rahul Bothra of Swiggy; and Ruhail Amin of BW Businessworld.
The session highlighted sustainability as an increasingly critical pillar of long-term business strategy and responsible growth.
Day 2 concluded with networking and a gala dinner, setting the stage for the final day of The Future Finance Office in Lucknow. |
