Mr Subodh Nadkarni passed his final CA examination in November 1979 as a rank-holder in the All-India Merit List. He joined P.C. Hansotia & Co, a Mumbai-based chartered accountants' firm, as audit assistant responsible for corporate audits and investigations under the supervision of a partner.

He entered corporate life as an executive trainee at Godrej Soaps Ltd. and worked at the Rs 250 crore GSL for eight-and-a-half years in various positions - looking after finance, taxation, accounting and legal matters of the company and its subsidiaries.

Along the way, he set up IT systems with country wide multi-location operations and became head of the EDP department. Two years down the line, he became company secretary at another Godrej group company, the Rs 5-crore Vegoils Ltd.

In 1987, he returned to GSL as financial controller, a position he held till he left to join Sulzer India Ltd, the a JV between the Switzerland Headquartered process Technology major and the RPG group. A member of the start-up top management, Nadkarni saw the company's business; growth and its transition from a JV to subsidiary of the $5-billion Swiss corporation. He led the project management team for the successful execution of a 150 MW pumped-storage power station in Maharashtra.

A major achievement was the turn around of the textile machinery sales and services division by streamlining the manufacturing operations with productivity and quality improvements. He also established Sulzer's turbo machinery business in India.

Today, he is President & CEO of the Indian subsidiary of Sulzer, as well as a member of its Board of Directors.

Compiled By Rahul Surkund