Group Chief Financial Officer — Refining And Marketing System

The mandate

A privately held Indian energy platform is repositioning its refining and marketing system for a commodity cycle in which margins, working capital, product mix and transition investment may move in different directions. Existing financing was designed around a different cash pattern, while the next investment cycle includes reliability, logistics, retail and lower-carbon options. The board needs a Group CFO who can rebuild capital structure and decision discipline without starving the core system.

The financial perimeter is approximately ₹32,050 crore across operated assets, commercial books and supporting infrastructure, with 1,225 employees and material partners. Accountability includes financial strategy, treasury, funding, controllership, performance management, tax, risk partnership, investor and lender relations, capital allocation and finance talent. Trading and operations own commercial execution. The CFO owns financial truth, liquidity, balance-sheet capacity and independent challenge to investment and commodity assumptions.

Refining and marketing performance must be viewed as a connected system. Crude sourcing, yields, energy, availability, logistics, inventory, product placement, credit and retail economics interact. A favourable refining margin can be offset by cash trapped in stock or receivables. The CFO will reconcile earnings, cash and risk rather than allow each business to select its preferred measure.

Capital structure must remain robust through downside. Funding tenor, covenants, security, currency, interest and liquidity will be tested against operational outages and margin compression, not only central forecasts.

Why this seat is open

The previous CFO is leaving through an accelerated, orderly transition. Interim finance leaders protect payments, close and lender obligations, but commodity repositioning cannot remain under split authority. The board seeks permanent appointment within six to eight weeks. The succession is unrelated to an undisclosed restatement, liquidity breach or conduct finding.

What you will own

• Establish a reconciled earnings, cash, working-capital and risk view.
• Redesign funding and liquidity for commodity and investment scenarios.
• Allocate capital across reliability, growth and transition choices.
• Strengthen product, channel and asset performance economics.
• Govern controls, tax, covenants and market-facing evidence.
• Build finance leaders across business, treasury and controllership.

Performance management will connect physical and financial drivers. Throughput, yield, energy, loss, downtime, feedstock, cracks, logistics, inventory days, discounts, credit and retail contribution will reconcile to reported results. Variance analysis must identify decision owners and timing, not remain a retrospective explanation of price movement.

Working capital will be managed by purpose. Strategic crude or product stock, operational minimums, in-transit inventory, marketing positions and slow-moving material need distinct policies. Receivable risk will combine customer quality, security, exposure and dispute status. Cash release cannot compromise supply continuity or conceal a commercial issue.

Treasury will model liquidity under correlated stress: margin compression, unplanned outage, currency movement, higher rates and delayed receivables. The CFO will establish committed headroom, collateral and contingency actions before markets tighten. Hedging will align with physical exposure, risk appetite and accounting; speculative profit will never be used to mask operating variance.

Capital allocation will distinguish sustaining integrity, reliability improvement, mandated expenditure, commercial growth and optional transition. Every case needs a counterfactual, execution capacity and downside. The CFO will challenge projects that depend on perpetual high cracks or unverified customer premiums. Post-investment reviews will examine physical and cash outcomes.

Controllership must support speed without weakening evidence. Product valuation, inventory, derivatives, revenue, capitalisation and provisions will receive focused control. Automated close and reporting work will proceed only where source ownership and reconciliation improve. Lenders and sponsors will receive the same economic story used to manage the business.

The first 12 months

Within 75 days, the CFO will validate liquidity, covenant and working-capital exposure, re-underwrite the ten largest investments and assess finance leadership. The board committee will receive immediate funding and capital choices under defined commodity scenarios.

By month eight, the system should operate one cash-and-margin bridge, two material working-capital interventions should show sustainable release and the refinancing plan should be executable under the downside case. Priority investment papers will use common economic and capacity gates.

At year-end, operating cash conversion should improve 10 percentage points, forecast cash variance remain within 7% and committed liquidity exceed the board minimum through tested stress. Ninety per cent of capital should remain behind approved gates, with no material covenant surprise and ready successors for 70% of pivotal finance roles.

What the board will measure

• Earnings, cash and risk reconciled across the value chain.
• Liquidity and funding resilient through commodity downside.
• Working capital released without service or control damage.
• Capital choices grounded in physical and financial evidence.
• Strong, independent finance leadership and succession.

The person

You are a Group CFO, energy finance executive or refining-and-marketing finance leader with 22–28 years of experience. You have carried accountable scope above ₹18,600 crore and led at least 850 people. Your record includes commodity exposure, capital markets or lenders, working capital and asset-intensive investment.

The board will examine a refinancing completed before stress emerged, a working-capital release that did not reverse and a project you challenged on physical assumptions. You must understand trading and operations while retaining independent control judgement. Pure corporate finance experience without system economics will not meet the threshold.

This onsite New Delhi appointment requires regular travel to assets, commercial centres, lenders and sponsors.

Compensation and terms

Fixed compensation is ₹3.2–4.6 crore plus performance variable and LTI. Measures include cash, liquidity, forecast quality, capital returns, controls and succession. Long-term awards follow approved vesting and final scope.

Confidentiality

The company, assets, lenders, commercial books and funding plans remain confidential. Identifying details follow qualification and mutual confidentiality. Values and operating circumstances are deliberately rounded or combined.