Leadership

Devdatta has corporate experience of 34 years in Finance, Accounting, Assurance, Advisory and Commercial functions in leadership roles in multi business segments.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE:
Accounting & financials, taxation, international contracts, project commercial management, governance, internal controls, budgeting & MIS reporting, risk management, leading a multi-national / multi-locational team, extensive dealing with Big Four auditors, global contractors, leading advisory & law firms – in Oil & Gas, International Projects, International Trading segments.

CAREER JOURNEY:
Devdatta joined Reliance Industries Ltd, Mumbai in 2005. As Head – Finance & Compliance of the US shale gas business, he was responsible for accounting, financial statements, audits, all US Federal and State tax matters including returns, tax structuring & transfer pricing, MIS including analysis for capex, profitability & cash, contract management, SAP roll out & management. He supervised payables, cash flows, debt & interest obligations and had governance oversight including internal controls as per prudent practices, internal audit, litigation review with general counsel and risk management initiatives.

Recently, Devdatta was CFO of RISE Worldwide Ltd, the Reliance entity in Sports & Talent Management segment and was responsible for financial reporting to Board & management on key indicators like profits, liquidity, compliances, risks. He managed statutory & tax audits, GST, Income tax & regulatory compliances, cash flows, budgeting and contract finalization. He also managed governance with oversight on internal controls, internal audit and risk management.

He was earlier Commercial manager in a major Reliance Oil & Gas field development project handling bid evaluation, contract finalization with global contractors, project accounts, audit, contract management, progress reporting, cash flows, banking, taxation, payables, insurances and all commercial, contractual and regulatory matters.

Devdatta had earlier joined TATA Group in 1996. As a Finance head of the Power Systems vertical in Tata Power Company Ltd, he was responsible for domestic & foreign project accounts, audit, contracts, taxation, budgets, MIS, receivables & payables, insurance, funding, banking & bid preparation. Previously he was Internal audit manager with Tata International Ltd handling audits of international trading, Projects, Leather products manufacturing & Group Africa operations. Devdatta was earlier with Price Waterhouse (PWC) in Audit and Management Consulting groups.

At Reliance, he independently set up all US taxation, compliance & accounting systems and managed the India & US operations simultaneously including through periodic US onsite reviews. He led the accounts migration from IFRS to Ind AS. He trained as an SAP PRA revenue accounting specialist to enable smooth US royalty operations. He managed the Risk management initiatives in Reliance with stakeholders & committees as Risk Champion and BRAC committee member. He led the implementation of new software for commercial business data analysis. In the TATA Group, he had independently setup project finance, accounts & commercial systems in overseas projects. He was a Tender committee member for bids and was auditor for group Africa operations.

ACADEMIC BACKGROUND:
Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Bachelor in Commerce from St. Xaviers College, University of Calcutta, India.