CFOs of infra majors resign as projects lag in schedule

Finance chiefs of some of India's biggest infrastructure companies have either resigned or been eased out to other roles in the last year as projects executed by these firms fall behind schedule and they fail to meet optimistic targets set earlier, according to a report in Economic Times.

The resignations of chief financial officers of at least six large infrastructure firms with collective turnover in excess of Rs 27,000 crore brings to focus the financial health of firms in the sector, which are characterised by over-stretched balance sheets with just about enough money to service debt.

“Any unexplained sudden resignation or departure of CFOs without a transition period should ring alarm bells for shareholders,” said Shriram Subramanian, managing director of InGovern Research Services.

InGovern is a proxy advisory firm. “The resignation of CFOs could be due to either corporate governance issues or due to undue stress on the individual.” Four CFOs have resigned while two have been shifted to other roles, but none of them departed abruptly without notice. When ET spoke to the departing CFOs, most cited higher stress levels because of the bad macroeconomic environment.

Read the full report here