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The Suzlon group is strengthening its management base. It, today, announced the appointment of Amit Agarwal from Essar Steel, as the chief financial officer of Suzlon Energy, today. This comes a few months after the company appointed a chief executive officer for its India and emerging markets business, bringing back its former employee Rohit Modi.
After Agarwal takes over as CFO of Suzlon Energy, it will help Kirti Vagadia focus on his role as the head of the consolidated group's finances. The group's businesses include its German subsidiary, REpower which is wholly owned by Suzlon. Vagadia had been executing the role of CFO of Suzlon Energy as well, after Robin Banerjee quit in May last year.
The Suzlon group recently signed a corporate debt restructuring (CDR) package of Rs 9,500 crore of its debt. Ever since, the company has been executing a number of conditions laid forward by them, including selling stake to lenders, and putting in promoter money. It has more such conditions to fulfill like selling stakes in subsidiaries, office spaces and others, taking up a lot of management's time and effort.
Agarwal would report directly to the chairman of the group, Tulsi Tanti. “We are delighted to be bringing someone with Amit’s credentials and experience in a highly competitive market segment as the CFO of Suzlon Energy. Amit’s previous role, as CFO of Essar Steel, has given him rich and extremely relevant experience that I know we will now benefit from,” said Tanti.
Agarwal is a chartered accountant by training, and has worked in Essar's North American operations, and also worked with Arcelor Mittal. “His experience includes corporate finance, treasury management, complex business restructuring, financial planning, business development and strategy,” Suzlon said in a press release. Agarwal has a commerce degree from the University of Calcutta and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business executive programme.
