My contribution to a board
I could help a board examine the continuing obligations inside an industrial growth proposal. My experience includes acquisition requirements beyond the purchase price, support after product withdrawal and the capacity surrendered in a large customer's proposal. I would ask management to show the credible alternative, the money already spent and the choices each route removes. My current executive directorship gives me experience of collective decisions, but a non-executive role requires a different relationship with delivery. I would not instruct plant managers or negotiate customer terms from the board table. The contribution should be a clearer enterprise account supported by complementary financial, legal and technical perspectives. I would learn the company's own economics before importing a conclusion from enclosures. A proposal can be ambitious and still state what it cannot deliver; I would want directors to assess both without treating every qualification as a lack of confidence in management.
My first year on a board
I would start by understanding how the company defines product profitability, commits capacity and approves capital. Through the chair's induction arrangements I would read recent investment papers and the follow-up accounts for decisions already implemented. Visits with operating, commercial and finance leaders would help me see where the same obligation is described differently by each function. I would examine an approved proposal and a declined one so that I understood how the board handles disagreement, not only its preferred success stories. My existing executive directorship would be useful experience, but I would consciously avoid treating another company's managers as my own reports. I would ask the chair whether my manufacturing questions help directors assess the enterprise choice or draw them into operating decisions that management should make. Before joining a committee I would learn its duties and the expertise already present, continuing preparation in wider financial and legal responsibilities rather than assuming that CEO experience alone supplies every perspective required of a director.
Conflicts and their management
Vezqari's customers, fabrication and coating suppliers, investor relationships and potential acquisition interests could overlap with another industrial company. I would examine those connections before receiving sensitive papers and disclose relevant personal and employment interests. The absence of personal equity does not remove the duties attached to my CEO role or the commercial knowledge I hold. I would seek the necessary employer and board consents and qualified advice for the proposed appointment. If recurring overlap prevented participation in central strategy or customer decisions, routine recusal might not make the seat practical. Time also needs an honest account: eighteen provisional days would be additional to current employment and executive-board duties, with exceptional demands considered on both sides. I would not transfer pricing, customer terms, diligence material or technical records between organisations. The chair should understand those limits before evaluating whether my experience adds useful independent judgement in the particular setting.
My independence statement
My Vezqari directorship is executive and cannot be described as independent. For another company, employment, interests and relevant relationships require a specific assessment under applicable Companies Act independence conditions, SEBI LODR requirements where relevant, committee responsibilities and directorship limits. No personal equity at Vezqari does not remove those questions. A passed databank assessment does not determine the result.
Judgement in practice
01Stopping after diligence rather than treating its cost as a reason to buy
The proposed coating acquisition had a ₹58 crore price and ₹7.4 crore estimated additional remediation and integration requirements. We had spent ₹42 lakh on due diligence when I recommended declining it. A promoter representative favoured price negotiation to retain the geographic opportunity, which remained a credible benefit. In a non-executive role I would ask whether the current recommendation depends on future value or discomfort about acknowledging sunk cost. The board should see the work and financing needed after ownership, not only the purchase price. Our ₹9.8 crore internal programme remained an investment with forecast returns, rather than a realised saving that automatically justified refusal. I would use the experience to question the completeness of the alternatives while leaving management responsible for diligence and execution. Another company's resources could support a different conclusion.
02Retaining the lost revenue in a portfolio decision
We withdrew a 96-variant custom-cover family after reviewing its differentiation and support economics. Seventeen variants had consistently negative contribution, but we did not claim every line had the same result. The choice accepted ₹12.4 crore historical annual revenue loss and ₹1.3 crore transition expense, with fourteen employees redeployed. As a director I would ask whether a proposed exit includes the obligations that persist after new sales stop. Customers, tooling, stock and people need a funded account. I would also ask management to distinguish the expected future benefit from the result already observed, rather than attribute every subsequent profit change to the withdrawal. The board's role is to assess the portfolio reasoning and follow the agreed evidence. It should not manage individual customer exceptions, but should know whether those exceptions are growing into a different obligation from the one it approved.
Committee contribution
Chair and member readiness| Capacity | Committees |
|---|
| Ready to join | Strategy or risk oversight involving industrial capital and customer commitments |
|---|
Capacity and preferences
- Time available
- 18 days per year
- Current directorships
- 1
- Sectors
- Regional industrial manufacturing · Fabricated products and enclosure businesses · Manufacturing companies revising portfolio and customer concentration
- Company type
- A private or appropriately governed listed industrial company with complementary finance, legal and specialist technical experience
- Company stage
- Choosing between expansion routes or reassessing the obligations within a broad product and customer portfolio
The seat I am pursuing
I am considering one non-executive appointment in a regional industrial company where capital and portfolio decisions are central to the next stage. A strategy or risk committee could be appropriate after induction, but I am not seeking an immediate chair role or claiming specialist audit or technical certification expertise. I would value a board that asks for the strongest alternative and keeps forecast outcomes distinct from realised results. My current statutory directorship is executive, and a second company's independence assessment would need to examine the actual relationships rather than rely on the title I seek. I passed the databank proficiency assessment in February 2025 within the fiction; that is preparation evidence, not a promise of eligibility. Eighteen provisional annual days must fit the real calendar alongside Vezqari responsibilities. The seat should allow me to question enterprise commitments while management retains authority to run production, serve customers and execute the approved plan.
Board and committee exposure
Served as a director
Vezqari Industrial Enclosures
Full board as an executive director; no standing committee chair appointment
January 2021 – Present
Statutory executive director alongside CEO employment, with company-wide profit responsibility and seven executive direct reports. I participate in collective board decisions while remaining accountable as an executive. This is not an independent appointment; the non-executive chair leads the board.
Governance learning and readiness
IICA Independent Directors’ Databank: Proficiency assessment passed
Within this fictional career I registered with the IICA independent directors databank in 2024 and passed its proficiency assessment in February 2025. Continuing obligations and the requirements of a proposed appointment would be reviewed with qualified advice. The record does not establish independence for an unspecified company.
- Executive directorship from January 2021 has required collective capital and portfolio decisions under a non-executive chair.
- Databank proficiency assessment passed February 2025 within the fictional career; continuing learning concerns directors' duties, financial reporting and non-executive oversight.
- Preparation for another seat includes the change from presenting an executive recommendation to questioning management through the chair.