Business Finance
AJIT AGRAWAL
Carl Zeiss India (Bangalore) Pvt. Ltd.
Bengaluru
15
Years of experience
1
Certification
1
Language
Chartered Accountant and finance leader with 18 years of experience, including 3 years of CA articleship, combining the controls discipline of Big 4 audit with eight years of running finance inside a European manufacturing MNC. Business finance partner to the MD, SBU heads, global leadership and Group Controlling for a ?1,000 crore business; former Head of Accounting for the entire Indian entity, owning statutory reporting, audits and compliance. Known for taking on the hardest problems – tax exposures, negative-margin units, legacy processes – and fixing them, and for bringing practical automation and AI into finance. Ready to lead the full finance function of a product-based MNC in India.
Work History
Senior Finance Business Partner
3 Years 1 Month- Own the business P&L end to end: annual budget, 3-year plan, rolling forecasts and monthly performance reviews with the MD and SBU heads; present the plan to global business unit leadership and align with Group Controlling heads.
- Lead company-level planning coordination with FP&A, standardising templates and assumptions across business units.
- Built the commercial governance framework: pricing authority, segment P&L segregation, sales incentive scheme and a KPI dashboard for early warning on deviations.
- Took on two further businesses under additional charge, including restructuring processes, roles and controls in one of them.
- Indian subsidiary of Carl Zeiss AG, Germany: optics, industrial metrology and microscopy
- ?1,000 crore business; additional charge of two further businesses; monthly reviews with the MD and SBU heads
Head of Accounting
4 Years 11 Months- Accounting, statutory reporting and compliance for the Indian entity; team of 10 (4 direct); additional charge as business controller from 2021
- Owned the monthly close, Ind AS financial statements and group reporting; delivered statutory, tax, cost, internal and group audits on time.
- Coordinated GST, customs, direct tax and transfer pricing compliance with the tax team and external advisors.
- Strengthened working capital discipline across receivables, payables and inventory; automated 18 AR/AP processes with RPA and achieved over 95% on-time payments.
- As business controller from 2021: P&L, budgeting, opex control, pricing and forecasting.
- Indian subsidiary of Carl Zeiss AG, Germany: optics, industrial metrology and microscopy
Manager, Assurance (joined as Executive, 2011)
7 Years 4 Months- Led audit teams of 4–5 for listed companies, large manufacturing groups and start-ups; presented findings to CFOs and audit leadership; three-month US secondment.
Education
Chartered Accountant
(first attempt), incl. 3 years of articleship
B.Com
Skills
SAP
Power BI
Power Platform
RPA
GenAI tools
Certification
- FP&A Business Guardian and Process Excellence Award (ZEISS)
- Spotlight Award (EY)
EDUCATION, AWARDS AND SKILLS
English (fluent)
LEADERSHIP HIGHLIGHTS
- Strategic finance and business partnering. Business finance partner to the MD, SBU heads, global business unit leadership and Group Controlling heads for a ?1,000 crore business across budget, 3-year plan and forecasts. Drove the resolution of a negative-margin operations unit with global and local stakeholders, adding ~?11 crore (?1.1M) of contribution.
- Controllership, tax and compliance. Led accounting, Ind AS statutory reporting and all audits for the Indian entity with no P&L surprises. Played a key role in resolving a tax compliance exposure that avoided a ~?83 crore cash outflow.
- Capital and value creation. Supported an equity capital infusion from the parent, including valuation inputs. Designed leasing and pay-per-use business models (IFRS 16), carried out diligence on an acquisition target, and released ~?3 crore from aged inventory.
- Finance transformation and digital. Turned around core finance operations through RPA and process redesign, set up the company's risk governance model, and introduced GenAI for market intelligence and faster decisions.
Timeline
Senior Finance Business Partner
Carl Zeiss India (Bangalore) Pvt. Ltd.
10.2023 - CurrentRead More
Head of Accounting
Carl Zeiss India (Bangalore) Pvt. Ltd.
10.2018 - 09.2023Read More
Manager, Assurance (joined as Executive, 2011)
S.R. Batliboi & Co. LLP (member firm of EY), India
06.2011 - 10.2018Read More
ICAI
Chartered Accountant
Read More
University of Calcutta
B.Com
Read More