Show the obligations inside the growth story

I once supported a charging-site forecast that left a material electricity cost outside the model. The twenty-eight-site account showed ₹18.6 crore revenue against ₹16.9 crore of identified costs, suggesting ₹1.7 crore contribution before central overhead, finance and tax. Another ₹2.2 crore of contractual demand charges changed that figure to a ₹0.5 crore deficit. In 2019 I withdrew the forecast from the expansion recommendation and accepted an eight-week correction. The lesson was personal: knowing that a cost existed was not enough if my approved decision model excluded it.

Today I lead finance at Vezlqathi Charge Networks in Jaipur. Twenty-one colleagues work through three heads within ₹3.2 crore annual function expense. Our business has 420 connectors across 215 sites and 180 employees. FY2025–26 revenue was ₹60 crore, including ₹52.8 crore charging income and ₹7.2 crore operating services; delivered electricity was 24 GWh. I report to CEO Arman Qerzvami and hold no statutory seat or ownership interest. The company’s revenue, finance-function expense and available treasury resources answer different questions. I want the management account to preserve those differences before an attractive number becomes permission to spend.

Later work separated restricted bank balances from cash available for supplier payments and examined restoration obligations at leased sites. Those cases required us to show the constraint beside the headline, including the leases whose position remained unresolved. I would consider a CFO mandate where expansion decisions must carry their full operating and future obligations. An outside-board contribution would require preparation, company-specific assessment and an agreed calendar; twenty-five days is an initial proposal rather than accepted capacity. I would bring the habit of asking what the financial figure permits the organisation to do, and what it does not, especially when I helped produce the original figure.

Current focus

Charging-network finance that makes cost boundaries, cash restrictions and future site obligations visible before commitment.

Conversations I welcome

Energy-services CFO mandates and a separately assessed first non-executive role.