Sonam Deqzomri · Chief Financial Officer · India

Oversight that keeps the continuing obligation visible

My contribution to a board

My prospective contribution would be to connect the financial presentation of an investment with the obligations that continue outside its most attractive measure. A fleet order may fit a cash balance before customer returns are represented. A high ready-fleet utilisation percentage may coexist with owned sections awaiting work. An appealing rental scenario may contain a break option that leaves much of the period conditional. I have had to explain these differences to management and directors without reducing them to a contest between commercial ambition and financial caution.

I would bring an owned failure as part of that contribution. The return-transport omission occurred in a project account I supported. Another colleague supplied the question that completed it. A board should understand that my experience includes being corrected, paying the company's obligation and retaining the customer's agreed terms. I would use that experience to examine the boundary of a recommendation, not to imply that I can certify its technical or contractual assumptions from a board seat. The contribution is a disciplined set of questions, supported by preparation and the willingness to learn the enterprise's particular circumstances.

Capacity and preferences

Time available: 22 days per year
Current directorships: 0
Sectors: Regional infrastructure-service businesses · Equipment and modular workplace enterprises · Commercial asset businesses with successive customer-use cycles
Company type: An enterprise with qualified asset and finance leadership and a board willing to examine the obligations behind reported measures
Company stage: A business reviewing fleet investment, contract flexibility or the financial account of a reusable asset base

The seat I am pursuing

I would consider a first board role where recurring asset commitments and financial interpretation are consequential, and where the board has identified a capability gap that my experience might help address. I am not offering to chair a committee immediately or to substitute for the company's auditors, technical specialists or legal advisers. My interest is in a collective setting with clear management accountability and a chair willing to support a careful transition from executive finance to oversight.

Before accepting, I would need the preparation, eligibility, independence and relationship reviews appropriate to that appointment. The company's expectations should be specific enough to test against the experience shown here, including its limits. My public profile can open that conversation; it cannot complete the assessment. I would rather contribute to one well-understood undertaking than borrow credibility from a list of roles whose demands I have not examined. This fictional readiness account therefore keeps the absence of board service and unfinished databank preparation visible alongside the financial decisions I can explain.

Committee contribution

Chair and member readiness
Capacity	Committees
Ready to join	Audit and financial reporting oversight, subject to applicable composition and competence requirements · Risk and capital-allocation oversight where recurring asset commitments are material

Judgement in practice

An available-capacity measure beside an owned-capital question

The selected hundred-section review produced 95.45% ready-fleet utilisation and 84% of owned sections on hire. I would ask which decision each measure supports, whether the board can reconcile them and what responsibility sits in the twelve sections awaiting refurbishment. I would not accuse the operating team of concealment simply because its denominator answers a narrower question. Nor would I let its measure stand alone in a capital-allocation paper. The subsequent ₹1.2 crore approval was funding for a defined response, not proof of completed restoration or better company-wide utilisation. Oversight needs to retain that distinction when assessing the next management report.

A customer option within an investment forecast

The special-fitout discussion separated an eighteen-month ₹3.6 crore hire scenario from the six-month ₹1.2 crore minimum commitment. I would want directors to see the optional period, the initial company expenditure and the assumptions about reuse. The agreed narrower ₹55 lakh scope included a defined ₹30 lakh customer contribution and ₹25 lakh company funding. That changed the upfront account while leaving the customer's rental flexibility intact. It did not establish profit or the eventual length of use. A board can accept commercial uncertainty, but its paper should identify what remains uncertain rather than describing a plausible continuation as a contractual fact.

My first year on a board

My initial work would be to learn how the company's assets, agreements and financial measures connect. I would seek an induction arranged through the chair and management, including the enterprise's actual reporting basis, decision authorities and significant commitments. Familiar terminology would not be enough. A hire enterprise, a service company and a property owner can use similar words while carrying different rights and obligations. I would want the professional owners to explain those differences before I import a question from my present business.

I would then examine a small number of important investment decisions from original proposal to later review. Which assumptions changed? Which results have actually been observed, and which remain forecasts? Where appropriate, agreed conversations with asset and commercial colleagues could help connect a board paper with the undertaking behind it. Those conversations would follow the proper channels, without creating a second line of management authority. I would ask the chair for feedback on whether my contribution is useful, proportionate and consistent with the collective role. A first year should establish dependable judgement rather than demonstrate activity through unsolicited operating instructions.

Conflicts and their management

The current business creates relationships with founder shareholders, capital providers, equipment and transport suppliers, professional advisers and infrastructure or industrial customers. My employment and equity interest must be disclosed alongside any relevant personal connections. A prospective company could intersect with those relationships through a tender, investment, financing arrangement or customer project. Some intersections may require restrictions on access or participation; others may make an appointment unsuitable. I would not assume that occasional recusal is an adequate answer before the nature and extent of the relationship have been assessed.

Capacity also requires disclosure. Twenty-two days is a preliminary estimate, not a contractual promise that every proposed board can be served within it. Reading, travel, induction and exceptional events may materially change the requirement. I would review those demands against the executive calendar and any employer permissions. The nomination discussion should be able to conclude that the timing is wrong. A willingness to defer an opportunity is preferable to presenting an availability number that omits the work needed for a responsible contribution.

My independence statement

I am an executive employee and hold a personal 0.05% interest in Raqzomthi within its employee allocation. I do not claim independence from my employer. An outside appointment would require review of relevant employment, financial, investor, customer, supplier and personal relationships under the applicable Companies Act criteria, including section 149(6), and relevant SEBI LODR requirements. Actual committee composition and directorship limits need assessment for the proposed company. Disclosure and any participation restrictions must follow the appropriate process; a finance title does not establish eligibility or independence.

Board and committee exposure

Presented to the Board or a committee

Raqzomthi Modular Estates

Enterprise investment and financial review through the CEO

May 2021–present

Presented funding and asset-investment recommendations through Meera, including the deposit-adjusted fleet order and the selected refurbishment programme. This is management presentation, with no statutory seat or committee membership claimed.

Presented to the Board or a committee

Raqzomthi Modular Estates

Assignment-economics review through the then CEO

2018

Explained the return-transport omission and the corrected direct cash account while holding a functional director title. The appearance did not make me a director of the company.

Governance learning and readiness

IICA Independent Directors’ Databank: Not yet registered

I have not yet registered with the IICA Independent Directors' Databank in this fictional profile. Preparation for the proficiency assessment remains incomplete, and I claim neither a pass nor an exemption. A genuine appointment discussion must check the current requirements and evidence before treating this preparation position as sufficient.

I am developing the transition from recommending a finance decision to examining management's reasoning within a collective board.
Preparation includes applicable reporting, independence and committee responsibilities, with qualified guidance where the actual circumstances require it.
I want to improve how I challenge the scope of a measure while respecting the operating purpose it legitimately serves.