India-Market Finance Setup Board Guide — Medical Devices

The mandate

The board repeatedly asks whether India should begin through importer-distributors, a wholly owned trading entity or a staged structure that later supports local service and assembly. Each option changes margin visibility, transfer pricing, inventory ownership, indirect tax, working capital and control. Market urgency risks making the initial workaround the permanent finance architecture without an explicit board choice.

The guide will reserve three days monthly for committee preparation, option review and sessions with India and group leaders, plus five Mumbai meetings. A written challenge to a material entity, distributor or funding proposal is due within two Indian business days. Incorporation, accounting execution, tax opinion, regulatory filing or contract negotiation requires separate professional authority.

The appointment lasts ten months from February 2027. During month eight, management must defend an unseen distributor exit and import-duty change against the approved design. Renewal is limited to one three-month extension authorised by the board for a named entity launch or localisation decision; unused access expires and cannot become a fractional India finance role.

The guide has no line authority, executive authority, statutory-office role, banking mandate, accounting-signing right, tax or legal authority, regulatory responsibility or investment vote. Management and licensed advisers execute the setup; the board decides capital and structure. Advice cannot be represented as a tax, customs, legal, accounting or medical-device regulatory opinion.

Interests involving distributors, importers, contract manufacturers, device competitors, banks, accounting firms, tax advisers, regulatory agents or property providers must be disclosed as conflicts. One unrelated India board role may continue with chair approval. Referral fees, transaction commissions or equity tied to a proposed service provider are incompatible with independent guidance.

Why the board wants this voice

Group executives understand their devices and India managers understand market access, but no director has built the finance and control spine through comparable staged entries. The board wants a practitioner who can expose irreversible structural choices and provider incentives without selling incorporation, tax, distribution or outsourced accounting services.

What you will own

• Press directors to compare distributor, importer, owned-entity and localisation paths through cash, control and reversibility.
• Test landed margin for transfer price, duty, indirect tax, freight, channel discount, warranty, service and foreign exchange.
• Challenge working-capital assumptions across import lead time, demo stock, hospitals, distributor credit, returns and collections.
• Frame scenarios for distributor failure, price-control change, product recall, delayed registration, local assembly and trapped cash.
• Probe entity governance, books, bank authority, delegated spend, inventory custody, close, tax compliance and group consolidation.
• Examine provider selection for conflicts, scope clarity, data ownership, continuity, exit and accountable management oversight.
• Coach directors to sequence commitments so early market learning does not lock an unsuitable permanent structure.

Candidate qualifications

• Held senior finance authority establishing India operations for regulated medical devices, life sciences or comparable imported products.
• Compared distributor, importer and owned-entity economics through customs, indirect tax, transfer pricing, inventory and service obligations.
• Designed local books, banking, delegation, close and consolidation controls before a permanent finance team existed.
• Navigated price regulation, product registration and localisation dependencies without issuing legal, tax or regulatory opinions.
• Presented staged investment, downside and exit choices to global boards under ambitious India revenue expectations.
• Managed conflicts across distributors, advisers, banks, manufacturers and property providers while protecting competitive entry evidence.

Non-negotiables

• Can attend all five Mumbai sessions and respond within two business days to a material setup proposal.
• Will disclose distributor, importer, manufacturer, bank, adviser, agent and property interests before option review.
• Accepts literal absence of line, executive, statutory, banking, accounting-signing, tax, legal, regulatory and investment authority.
• Must evidence an operating India finance setup; general market-entry strategy or company-secretarial exposure is insufficient.

1. 49 words maximum. Describe an India entry whose distributor economics changed after full working capital and service cost were included.
2. 49 words maximum. Which current distributor, manufacturer, bank, adviser, agent or property interests require board disclosure?
3. 49 words maximum. How would you preserve exit options while establishing local books and inventory control?