CEO Portrait 2024 – Span of control of CEO

Who reports to the CEO in Indian companies? Discover the complexities and variations in the reporting structure to the CEO across Indian firms, shedding light on emerging roles and the evolution of leadership teams.

Span of control of CEO Infographic

๐—˜๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ผ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—–๐—˜๐—ข ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€?

Just who reports to the CEO is not easy to establish. Typically, company websites list the leadership team, but not all companies do. Even when they do, some just list the KMPs (MD, CFO, CS), while others might extend the courtesy to BU Heads. A few detail the entire team, covering the majority of the functions such as CHRO, Chief Manufacturing Officer, or Head of Ops, etc.

Hence, we have had to extend our research quite a bit to unearth the entire team, often resorting to studying the annual reports, annual returns, and open searches. ๐—”๐—ณ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ธ๐˜€, ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ ๐˜„๐—ฒ ๐—ธ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜„?

In the Indian context, on average, ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—–๐—˜๐—ข ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐Ÿต (๐Ÿต.๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ, ๐—ถ๐—ณ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฒ) ๐—–๐—ซ๐—ข๐˜€ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—บ/๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ, ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—น๐˜‚๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—•๐—จ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐˜€. In comparison, the Fortune 500 seems to have a larger span of control at 11. This is understandable, as Fortune 500 firms tend to be more global and much larger.

That said, ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐—ฑ๐—ผ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ด๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฝ ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—บ โ€“ these include Chief Accounting Officer, quite separate from Chief Financial Officer; Chief Sustainability Officer; Chief Risk Officer, just to name a few. Even the more established roles like Chief Digital Officer are yet to catch up fully with Indian firms.

๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐˜†, ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฝ ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—บ ๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜‡๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜„, ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—น๐˜† ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—–๐—˜๐—ข, ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—น.

๐—ก๐—ผ๐˜๐—ฒ: The “CEO Landscape 2024” series is based on an analysis of 100 Indian companies across 20 sectors covering both manufacturing and services. Analysis is based on very detailed assessments of CEOs, CFOs, and the entire CXO team, covering nearly 1100 leaders.

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Anu graduated from DU and subsequently completed her full-time MBA from IMI. Post her MBA, she worked in sales in the BFSI space, with ICICI Lombard, Principal Asset Management, DSP Blackrock and Edelweiss, across bancassurance, and institutional sales. Later, she worked in the start-up space, while pursuing and completing the Master's in Business Law from National Law School. At Resource Bridge, Anu is a Sr Associate in the CEO Practice and has worked closely with Ram on key mandates.


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Ram is currently the Leader for the CEO Practice and also the Managing Partner of the firm. Ram is an Engineer-turned (BE Mechanical, MS Industrial) MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, and brings with him 7 years in corporate, 14 years in top-tier consulting and 10 years in executive search. He was last the leader for Life-sciences at Monitor Group and prior to that, headed IMS Consulting and AT Kearney, starting his career with Ashok Leyland. Brings extensive experience in automotive and healthcare/life-sciences space.


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Dhanlaxmi is a CA and ICWA from Mumbai, and brings with her extensive experience as a practicing chartered accountant, serving clients across industries. Alongside, she also served as a visiting faculty in several institutions. At Resource Bridge, Dhana is an Consultant in the CFO Practice, where she has worked with Saroja on several of the key CFO mandates.


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Saroja is a merit-ranking ICWA and is the Lead for the CFO Practice. Coming from an industrial family, she initally worked in the family business focused on automotive forgings. Later, she set up Resource Bridge along with Ram and grew it from infancy. Just over the last few years, she has led 40+ CFO engagements for a variety of clients, and has one of the best networks within the CFO Community, not only in India but outside too. She brings extensive experience in Retail, FMCG and Manufacturing sector.


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Sanjayaย holds a BE in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and brings over 20 years of leadership experience in the industrial and energy sectors. His career spans key roles, including General Manager at Siemens and Director Services at GE Energy Power Conversion. Currently, as Director at SEAS India Pvt Ltd, he focuses on delivering innovative and sustainable solutions for industrial and energy products. At Resource Bridge, Sanjay works with the CFO Practice team, leveraging his expertise in technical support, automation, and client management to deliver strategic mandates.


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Mona leads the BD & New Client Engagement function at Resource Bridge and is responsible for all client development activities for the firm. She comes from a marketing and brand promotions background, having worked in the marketing function at Matsushita. Mona has done her full-time MBA.


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