Oxblood Index: let a finance leader's arguments lead the page

The home page opens with a short masthead divided by a strong rule. On the left, in small type, sit the role, the location and the words Practice / Perspective. On the right, a large headline announces an index of ideas. There is no photograph yet. The design asks the visitor to accept a premise: this person will be judged first by what they think, and only then by where they have worked.

That premise suits a finance leader whose arguments run against habit. Raghav holds that quality spending is capacity rather than an exceptional item, that domestic revenue should be read through secondary sales and that a filing is an option to be priced. A layout that leads with those positions makes the reader engage with them before forming a view of the man.

Beneath the masthead, the essays appear as rows in a real table with three columns: a two-digit number, the title of the idea and its subject with an estimated reading time. The first row sits on a slightly lifted wine surface, so the most recent argument carries quiet emphasis without a banner or badge. Each title links to the full essay. On a phone the subject column is hidden, leaving number and title, which keeps the table legible at narrow widths.

This arrangement rewards essays that each make one claim. Titles such as an ANDA being an option rather than an asset read well in a numbered list because they are already propositions. A leader adapting the design should write titles in the same way. A vague topic heading looks thin when it is set at this size beside a number.

After the table comes a three-part band introduced as the practitioner. The portrait sits on the left. The centre carries the leader's name, the opening paragraph of the biography, availability and a contact link. The right column lists areas of practice, each numbered and ruled off like an index entry. On smaller screens the portrait and text sit side by side and the practice list moves beneath them across the full width.

Because only the first paragraph of the biography appears here, it has to stand on its own. Raghav's begins with a solvent-recovery tank that did not match the stock sheets during an audit in 1998, which explains in a few lines why he insists on seeing physical evidence. Headline measures follow the band: revenue for the year to March 2026, the number of finance colleagues he leads and the fall in net debt to EBITDA.

The Oxblood palette sets cream text on a deep wine ground, with a warm peach accent for numbers, captions and links. Raised panels use a slightly lighter wine, and fine rules in a muted rose divide rows and columns. Work Sans carries headings and IBM Plex Mono the supporting text, giving numbers and labels the look of an annotated ledger. The effect is serious without being severe, which suits a CFO whose subject is cost and evidence.

On essay pages the opening paragraph is marked with a peach rule down its left edge, and the body is set slightly larger in the display face, so long-form reading feels deliberate rather than crowded.

The inner pages turn the arguments into a record. The impact page holds four decisions, each with the trade-off left in: a slower remediation after a USFDA warning letter, an ₹88 crore channel correction, the exit of 23 US products and a backward-integration plan phased against the promoter's preference. The expertise page explains five areas of practice, from gross-to-net deductions to related-party approvals.

Career and Board Readiness are native pages with their own print treatment. The career record lists six roles with employer scale for the period, reporting lines and reasons for each move. The readiness page states his exposure precisely: an invitee at the Audit Committee, not a member, with one executive subsidiary directorship. It sets out thirty available days, his IICA databank status and the conflicts he would decline.